Living with an Enderman
by ArthaDemon
Summary: When a lone woodsman named Evan comes face to face with an Enderman known as Kuu, he expects the worst. But sometimes, people aren't quite what they seem. Take a look into the life of a human, and an Enderman; See their differences, and similarities. Take a journey into a friendship that transcends species and language. You just might be a bit surprised.
1. A Strange Encounter

_[Author's Note: OK so after a 5-6 year long writer's block, I finally got around to writing a story! I got inspired by the Enderman from minecraft. Minecraft is an immensely fun game, and addictive. And the Enderman is my favorite mob in the game. I've fleshed out my own version of them, which may not line up with other people's headcanons. Please don't crawl up my ass about it. Everybody has the right to look at things differently._

_The world I am presenting is not actually much at all like the Minecraft world. It's more like a semi-realistic fantasy setting. A setting with some fantasy mixed in. There are parts that are inspired by Minecraft and how things work IN minecraft; not the actual world itself. It's not blocks n' such. The characters are humanoid, not blocky. _

_Anyway, there may be typoes, and a couple inconsistancies here and there. I am not the best writer, but I try. Please pardon the dust while I try to get my writing back into gear! _

_Will post Kuu's ref when it is done! If you want to see it, please send me a PM and I will send you the link. If it does not work via PM, give me your email and I will email the link over. Or you can give me your skype, if that is easier. Not sure why FF has such a huge beef with submitting images, but whatever. I can't think of anywhere else to post this story!  
_

_This is rated T for descriptions of nudity as well as brief moments of awkward arousal for comic relief's sake; as well as a little bit of minor swearing._

_Otherwise, enjoy!]_

"What a day..." The dark haired man sighed running a hand over his sweated brow. His hair was shoulder length and black, and he had light black facial hair and blue eyes. His skin was sun-tanned and he wore simple clothes with worn chainmail over them. He was a rather average human male. Evan had just finished cutting down several trees, to add on to his house. It was actually surprisingly nice for the lone woodsman. It had been an abandoned house he had found on the large property he owned; and he had spent time refurbishing it into something better.

Evan was very skilled with the tools he had brought with him when he had struck out away from Civilization to go it alone. He'd built everything he needed; a bed from the wool of sheep, and a framework of wood. It wasn't the most comfortable thing, but he could improve on it later. Maybe make some cloth out of cotton to ease the itching when he slept. Would be a project for another day, considering he could find some cotton. At any rate, he'd been working hard for the entire day. It was constant work to survive out in the wilds by himself, but he honestly liked it here. Sometimes he would travel to a nearby settlement and trade or converse with the citizens just for social interaction, but this was seldom done. Having found a vein of gold that day, though, he realized he could trade for some better items. Might as well make use of his hard work, refine the gold... And make a trip to the town in a few days.

He wanted some food other then what he could hunt. A trip to the town would be nice. He took a moment to lean back, watching as the sun neared setting.

It was time to go inside. One thing he had figured out... These parts were very dangerous at night. All manner of strange creatures roamed the land, from Undead things that ravenously attacked any living thing that moved to giant spiders the size of horses to plantlike creatures that exploded when threatened and everything else one could imagine. He was relitavely safe during the day, when the monsters spent the day hiding in holes underground or various makeshift dens and such. But when night fell the monsters roamed and hunted free.

Making his way back to his house, he thought he heard a sound. Both familiar... and frightening. He'd encountered the ... THINGS... that made this sound several times. A strange, almost coo-like sound. Quiet and subtle. He stared at the ground, frozen to the spot.

Last time he'd made the mistake of meeting one's gaze, it had rushed him and attacked. He'd barely made it out of there alive. He was still scarred from the experience. He nervously ran his fingers along the scars on his arms, remembering the ones on his sides; made by razor sharp black claws. The glowing particles floated around him, coming from behind. The sound came from mere inches away. He heard a branch snap and reflexively glanced up.

He saw those glowing purple eyes for a mere instant before he heard an unearthly sound - a roar/scream... almost staticy and distorted, followed by the loud "fwoomf" of a teleport. The sound made Evan's heart leap into his throat. He instantly drew his sword, only to find that the shadowy thing was gone. He was incredibly wary, every step slow as his ears listened for the 'Woomf' sound of the monster teleporting to attack once again - but it did not come. For several tense minutes, he stood there, every sense alert and buzzing with an adrenaline rush that made him feel more awake, more alert, then he had felt in a very long time. Each moment felt elongated with the rapid beating of his heart and his breath, which trembled as he tried to keep it quiet. Every sound sent a rush of ice down his spine... but the expected attack never came.

Finally, he slowly backed towards his door, pushed it open, slipped inside, and slammed it shut. Once inside, he sagged against the wall, breathing hard and holding his hand over his chest. His heart beat so hard that he swore it would fall out of his chest. "That was TOO close..." He whispered to himself. His voice still trembled.

Enderman, he had heard these creatures called. Tall, humanoid monsters from a realm that some called "The End". Called this because it was said to be the very last realm between the Underrealms and the Void. They were also called that because it was rare to survive an encounter with one if you managed to aggrevate it. They were fast, and powerful, not to mention able to teleport.

Evan finally found the energy to move, still shaky, and removed his armor. Exhausted from his brush with death, he sighed and flopped on his bed. After a few moments to calm his beathing heart and shaky breath, he had to wonder - why hadn't the Enderman attacked him? It had let out that heart-shattering roar/scream, almost the scream of the darkness itself... but it had not charged. It had run away. Had it been injured? He wasn't sure. He had heard they teleported away if critically injured... as hard as it was to actually injure one with how quickly they teleported around. Angering one was generally deadly, and they seemed aggressive and easily angered. He decided to think about it later, and get some sleep. It had been a very, very long day. He was tired, sore, and worn out. That, and his adrenaline rush was wearing off.

He slept fitfully that night, his mind buzzing from the experience that should have had him fighting for his life. That morning, he woke to a rooster's call and the sun beaming in through his window. Sitting up and stretching, he rubbed his eyes and prepared breakfast - chicken, and fried potatoes. After eating, he put his armor on, gathered up his pack, tools, weapon, and supplies, and opened his door. But as the door opened, he felt and heard the wood go "thump" against something. In front of his door... was a pile of various items. Mostly rocks. A few plants. Some wood. On closer inspection he realized two things - the rock was actually laced with ore. Iron ore. And there was one stone encrusted with... yes, diamonds. He was shocked at this, looking at the items, then looking all around. He had to wonder how they had gotten there, and why.

His hair stood on end as he heard that strange cooing sound - and the 'bamf' of a teleport just to his left. The Enderman, it seemed, was back. He froze for several moments again, holding his breath as he looked around carefully, for any signs of the shadowy entity. When no sign came, he relaxed, letting out a breath. Still alert, he moved around the items, and made his way to his makeshift mine. He was nervous about touching the the things; the Enderman might object to them being moved and he had no intention of pissing it off. It was reasonably safe; He'd made sure the place was well lit so as not to provide any nasty surprises, and support beams and scaffolding would stop the stone and rock above him from crashing down on his head. This, of course, didn't keep the monsters out completely; so he stayed very alert. He was getting more nervous now, especially in his narrow mineshaft. He had encountered the Enderman twice; and they liked dark areas as far as he knew.

Or maybe it was two... Two separate shadowy Endermen was worse then one. A shiver ran down his spine at the thought. He thought he heard the disjointed groan of an undead somewhere near, the shambling, scuffing sound of feet dragging over the ground.

"Damn." He muttered to himself, nocking an arrow in his bow. Well, at least they announced themselves with their dull, gurgling moans. Next he heard that teleporting 'Fwoomp' followed by the thud of the zombie falling to the ground with a louder moan choking off in a gurgle, then 'wump' once again. He froze. It was back. And it was following him. He was sure it thought that zombie was him. He risked a glance towards the indead creature, and felt frozen to the spot for a moment. The claws of the Enderman had slashed through the Zombie as if it was butter. The head was clean off, the gouges in its chest looked like somebody had taken a fine, sharp sword to it. He fet panic rush into him at the sight. 'That could have been me!' he was thinking. His heart hammered in his chest. What was only a few seconds felt like an agonizingly long time before he finally managed to gt his limbs working again. The clatter of his pickaxe hitting the stone beneath his feet managed to jerk him out of his frozen state.

Bolting, he left his pickaxe behind, and fled back to his house to save his own skin. Evan had never run that fast, or that far, before in his life. And it was a nice distance between his home and his mine. He just hoped the creature had not seen him. A few heartstopping times, he thought the monster was just behind him, which only lent speed to his step; but when he got inside without incident, he leaned back with a sigh.

Once again, his heart hammered in his chest and his knees quaked. Too close... too close... too close... was the only thought rushing through is paniced mind. He was sure he had almost died that day; He was sure he was the one that was supposed to end up like that undead thing that had been slashed to bits in his mind.

It seemed like Evan encountered an Enderman every single day as the weeks dragged on; and a part of him could swear the thing was stalking him. It was making getting any work done terribly hard. Every time he went outside he had to be VERY careful... having to sneak around and hope to the gods that he was not seen. But he had never heard of Endermen stalking people. He knew they liked to pick up items, or handfuls of sand or dirt, or even flowers and plants and walk around until they set them down elsewhere; He'd also heard they generally ignored a person UNLESS they looked right at them or felt like they had been spotted or seen. They could be observed if the person didn't look directly at them, and acted normal. But most wouldn't risk it; they'd just run before they had to fight for their lives. So little was known about the shadowy creatures in the night.

After steadying himself, Evan looked out the window, carefully. He thought he saw something moving in the shadows of the treeline, and a glint of eyes, but it could have just been his recent paranoia. He was noticing stones, items, and even flowers and other things in front of his door every morning, too. He was starting to move them aside so as not to block his exit from his home. He was wondering if the Endermen were putting them there. If so, why? It confused him, but also mystified him. He carefully crept out, looking around and touching the pile. More ores, he realized, and a few rocks of odd colors; and a handful of richly-colored red sand. He thought he heard that quiet, soft "cooing" sound, somewhere near by. Curiousity got the better of him, and he found himself looking in the direction the sound came from. He only saw the creature for a split second, seeing the mouth open, showing the glowing tongue and throat, before it was gone with a "fwoomf" leaving nothing but the fading particle trail it left behind. He was sure he would have to dive into his house and fight for his life. He didn't know why he had decided to look at the creature. His hand clutched the hilt of his sword and drew it out, every muscle stiff and tense, ready for a battle. But once again... There was no attack. In fact - the Enderman appeared to be completely gone once again.

What was with that Enderman? He was starting to convince himself that there was only one. One Enderman; following him and dropping things by his door. Why? He had NO idea. But Evan was getting more and more nervous and on edge.

Over the months that this continued, he started to feel a bit less nervous. He frequently heard that all-too-familiar sound, but the Enderman was never near when he glanced around. He never caught more then a fleeting glimpse of a black shadow vanishing into the treeline or flash of glowing purple eyes. Though it seemed to be getting bolder. He heard the sounds closer and closer; and more and more often.

Once, even, feeling a soft touch on his back; something lightly brushing the fabric of his shirt - but when he whipped around he only saw it's dark form retreating into the trees. THAT had scared him - the thing could have knocked him down; killed him with ease. But it hadn't. That touch, he realized... had been gentle. Tentative. Almost... curious. He remembered the zombie in the mine; head slashed off and body slashed in half. The Enderman, he realized... could have done that to him with ease. But it had not. He hadn't even felt claws. His shirt was completely undamaged. Something that had left clawmarks in the stone of his mine... had touched him without so much as leaving a scratch. He still felt afraid... as was natural. But... for some reason not AS afraid as he could have been.

That night, he heard thunder in the distance. For a moment, he wondered what the Enderman would do. Why he felt that brief spark of concern for the creature, he had no idea. They couldn't handle rain, after all - or any water for that matter. It hurt them, and could even kill them. He'd seen it happen once before, a black shadowy shape roaring and screaming in pain as it teleported in pure panic until it dropped from exhaustion and let out a bone-chilling death cry. It was never a pleasant sight, the creatures thrashing and twisting and bleeding in the rain. The thought of that particular one actually made him cringe. It hadn't attacked him. Not even once. It didn't deserve to die... He had the small urge to bring an umbrella and go looking for it... but finding a panicing, wildly teleporting creature would be neigh impossible; especially one that could be so damn dangerous as an Enderman. He frowned as he stared at his umbrella. Should he go, or should he stay? Going would be pointless... Maybe it would find a cave... or take shelter in his mineshaft... Or hide under a tree.

Suddenly, he jumped in a startle, jerked out of his thoughts. The sky flashed with lightening's white brilliance, before the loud hissssssss of hard rain started. Then, he heard it. That cry of pain in the distance. Then again, closer. And suddenly, there was a loud "woomf' inches away from him, and a flash of black almost knocked him over. He felt hot wetness against his clothes. Deep clawmarks were left in his floor as the tall, shadowy black thing ran past. Then, the creature collapsed in a heap, shaking all over. It let out that bone-chilling threat-cry when he looked at it but... It did not attack. It just stayed right where it was. The threat cry faded off onto quiet, keening whimpers. He noticed that it was bleeding, in many places, leaving an inky purpleblack smear on the floor. The sounds it made were urgent and close together, clear expressions of pain as it panted heavily.

Then... their eyes met. Evan went stiff. He had just locked eyes with an Enderman, and it was not attacking him. It just right back at him. He wasn't sure how long they stared into eachother's eyes. At that moment, he realized the Ender was terrified. The way it looked at him, the way it trembled and keened; he realized that it thought it was going to die there, on his floor, injured and bleeding. The glowing particles and shadowy aura around it seemed diminished as compared to the previous glances at it, but he'd never taken the time to get a close look. The trail of shining sparks still marked where the creature had come from more clearly then the drips of blood and clawmarks on Evan's floor. He could see where it had teleported from; having rushed in a panic and blinked right through the wall.

He was just staring dumbly when the urgent keening whimpers faded off and the creature collapsed to its side... unconscious. He frowned. The Enderman had not attacked him. It hadn't even made any signs of doing so. It was more scared then he was. This confirmed what he had been thinking for a while now; just MAYBE this one was different. It's response had looked fear and pain-driven. Not anger, or aggression driven. He carefully took up a cloth and moved closer, carefully touching it against the Ender's wounds. It seemed that every rain drop had left a bleeding wound, some deeper then others. It looked like it had been caught in a torrent of acid. Carefully, Evan started to dab the cloth over the Enderman's wounds. He almost instictively got water to clean the blood off, but thought better of it. That would just make it worse. The dry cloth would have to do. As he cleaned and tended to the wounds, bandaging the the worse ones, he get a very good look at the creature. It was very tall and lean, ribs naturally showing against jet black skin, warm to the touch.

The anatomy was generally humanlike, but a lot longer and lankier in porportion, with long arms and clawed hands. The feet were digitgrade ended in four sharp talons. He noticed the mouth gape almost ending at the ear, and the teeth, as black as the rest of it, were long. and sharp. Too long to be very useful in eating. He found himself wondering how these creatures ate... If they did. Gender was hard to tell; but his first thought was female. There was a slit between the creature's legs, though higher then one would expect from a female. He ran the cloth over the wounds on the creature's lower abdomen finding wounds painfully close to that sensitive area. He was hesitant to clean near there... but he was not going to leave that spot neglected because of his own sensitivities and nervousness. So he swallowed his nervousness and continued to tend to the Enderman's injuries, no matter how awkward he felt so close to its nether regions.

As he worked, he suddenly recoiled, clearing his throat as he felt his face go hot. Male. Definately male. He noticed a slight bulging just beneath the slit - not unlike a reptiles cloaca... And the tip of a deep, purple, pointy-headed member barely peeking out. He quickly looked away, pressing his lips together. 'Oh dear gods' he thought. 'Awkward...'. That was the LAST thing he'd needed, or wanted to see; an Enderman's ... bits. For some reason he hadn't even thought of the creatures having that! It was just... strange, really, to him. He took a moment to regather himself, before he finished cleaning the creature's wounds, avoiding looking at anywhere near its crotch. Finally, he was finished. Every wound had been cleaned to the best of his ability. He gently picked him up. He was surprised how light he was - being so long and tall. He carried him to his bed and lay him down. By now he'd made a better bed with better supplies and better blankets. No more itchy wool.

"I will have to clean this later." He mumbled to himself. Even if he'd cleaned the wounds, the Enderman was still bleeding a bit, though the bleeding was almost stopped. To his relief, the creature showed no further signs of arousal. The slight bulge and peeking tip was gone. It was... probably a natural reaction, Evan thought to himself. It was unconscious... And something was touching in a very... intimate and sensitive area. Awake, it would not have reacted as such. Hell, it probably would have attacked him for touching it THERE! He was rather glad it... no he... was unconscious. He didn't want to think about it, or his budding curiousity on what the rest of that... thing... looked like. It was perfectly natural for him to feel so curious. He was human, after all... beings known for their curiousity and innovation. But he finally shook the thoughts off, avoiding looking at anything below the Enderman's chest.

It was another hour, before the Enderman shifted. It was still pouring rain outside. Evan couldn't help but freeze when he saw the eyes open, and stare at him. The creature seemed tense. Afraid? The creature did not make a sound; just looked at him. Surprisingly, the Enderman calmed down, relaxing a bit, before Evan heard the soft, quiet cooing sound. The creature seemed smart enough to realize his wounds had been cleaned and attented to. Evan could swear the creature was... thanking him. Then he saw the creature shiver, and his eyes half closed - before he let out a sharp sound. A sneeze. Evan jumped at the sudden sound.

Again he found himself completely surprised. He had NEVER imagined an Enderman would sneeze. But the thought occured to him that maybe water could make the creature sick."Are you... cold?" He asked, doubting the creature could understand or hear him. Of course he just made a confused sound. Nope - he couldn't understand him. Instead he added some wood to the fire, before sitting down and leaning back. He jumped when the Enderman sneezed again. The sound was unsettling; sharp, loud and sudden.

"You should... Come closer to the fire. If it will help." he said. He was lost on what to do about, or for, the shadowy being. The Enderman simply replied with a quite curious sound. "And of course you don't understand me." Evan sighed as he watched the creature. On closer inspection he seemed intelligent enough. He was able to recognize he had been helped; he'd displayed clear curiousity. The only thing, he thought, stopping communication was language barrier.

"I wonder if I can teach you my language." Evan said out loud. "Would make things a bit easier. Now, I wonder what you eat..." He brought out some meat from the basement, kept cold with ice he brought down from a nearby mountain, and cooked it up. He would need to dry it soon, so it would keep. A project for another time.

The Enderman made no reaction to the scent of it, other then looking his way, and sneezing again. The creature sniffled a couple times, before huddling down in the blankets with a long, rather grumpy sounding coo. It did seem to have a pattern to it - like speech. Once the food finished cooking, Evan approached the shadowy Enderman carefully, holding out a plate with the steak cut into pieces.

"Hungry?" He asked the shadowy being. The Enderman gave the food a disinterested look, making it's distinctive sound again, this time a bit longer - he could swear it sounded like a disinterested "Nooooooo..."

"Are you sure?"

The same sound again.

"Ok, have it your way..." Evan sighed.

And he ate both helpings of food. He didn't want the meat to go to waste with how hard he'd worked hunting the board down it came from. He doubted the creature would eat it anyway; but it was worth offering. He looked out the window at the sky, damn near black, pouring torrents of rain. It was going to be a while... Such an interesting situation, really. Inside his home, co-existing with one of the most feared creatures in these parts; and living to tell the tale. He was wondering if maybe injury and possible sickness was making the creature so docile; but even before the rain the Ender had never attacked him. Maybe he was just... different.

The creature didn't seem that different from him, really; maybe individuals were all different from eachother just like humans did. He realized, then, that he was being stared at; the Enderman's vocalizations sounding calm, and curious. It was unsettling, really, the way the Ender followed his every move with his creepy, glowing eyes.

"Never seen a man eat before?" Evan grunted. "Surely your own kind eats. I just wish I knew what..." He'd have to find different foods and try to feed the Ender. Or maybe it'd wander off and eat on its own after the rain stopped.

He came to a realization; he had to call him something other then "creature" or "the Enderman" or "Ender". But he wasn't sure if the Ender had a name; or if it would take offense to being given one.

"Do you have a name?" He mused quietly as he watched him. He recieved a confused look in reply. The Enderman KNEW he was speaking - probably his own, strange tongue, but to the Ender it just sounded... like confusing nonsense. He KNEW the Overworlder was trying to speak to him; and he wished he could reply back. Instead, he just sighed to himself, mumbling something in his strange, cooing tongue. It was a bit unsettling for the human to hear; but he had a feeling the Enderman was muttering to himself, just as Evan himself had been doing moments before.

Finally, the Enderman recognized something he could understand. Not words; but rather, gestures. The man was pointing to himself, speaking something. His name, the Ender decided. Yes - he was telling him his name, strange though the Overworlder's language was to him.

"Evan." Evan said, pointing to himself. He them motioned towards the Ender. The Enderman watched him keenly. He made one long sound, sounding almost as if would translate to "Kuu", then "Vuu-Ra" noises, tapping his own chest to indicate speaking his own name.

"Kuu?" Evan asked. The Ender gave him a funny look, but then just seemed to shrug. Yeah, that worked, though it sounded so funny to him in this other creature's tongue. Funny enough that he chuckled. Their languages were so different... maybe that was the closest sound the Overworlder could make to his name. At any rate, it was passable. Almost cute, really.

Evan jumped as the Enderman chuckled lightly. The sound was unsettling until he realized that he was... laughing. The chuckled died off as Kuu paused, then focused hard for a moment, moving his mouth and tongue to TRY to speak Evan's name. It made it's distinctive sound that sounded... well, recognizeable. He repeated it several times, finding the strange words tickled his tongue coming out. Then, to his surprise, the Ender started to laugh again! Kuu spoke something in his own tongue, and even his vocalisations sounded amused. He could swear he was telling him his name sounded funny!

Communicating with Kuu, Evan realized, would be a chore. Their languages were so different they couldn't even speak eachother's words. He just hoped that in time they could learn to understand eachother. Over the hours that the storm raged on and on... He found himself realizing he kind of wanted Kuu to stay. Looking at the Enderman up close, he wasn't so threatening when he wasn't trying to kill him.

"I wonder how many other similarities there are between our species..." Evan mused, watching Kuu as he curled up under the blanket. He realized that Kuu was very tired; and was surprised to learn that Endermen actually slept. Kuu was, in fact, deeply asleep, silent, and breathing softly. Occasinally, his leg twitched a bit, or he shifted and vocalized quietly. Instead of laying on the bed with Kuu, Evan wandered over to the couch and laid down on his back.

"What a day..." Evan sighed, glancing at the sleeping Enderman as the thunder rumbled and roared outside. He found himself drifting off to sleep, tired after the events of the day. When he woke up, the rain had slowed to a quiet drizzle. He opened his eyes and yawned, then jumped back, startled, nearly falling off the couch as his eyes met the Enderman's in a flash of sudden panic. Then everything that had happened the night before rushed back to him. He cleared his throat and blushed, muttering a quiet apology.

Kuu just blinked his glowing eyes twice... then laughed. Evan remembered that sound, from the night before. But this time it was heartier and louder. It even sounded mirthful! Already Kuu seemed stronger, the burns on his skin mostly healed. He wasn't sneezing, either. Seemed like all he needed was a good rest and some warmth.

"Yes, thank you for laughing at my natural response." Evan sulked, pouting at Kuu.

Kuu just laughed even more, finding the human's sulky attitude even more amusing. This smaller being was so much like him; moreso then he had realized. Why, he wondered, had he been so afraid at first? And why, he wondered even more, were his kind usually so afraid of and hostile towards humans? This one seemed perfectly allright. He had allowed him to take refuge into his home; saved his life even. Had he been shoved back out into the rain, he would have died. If Evan had attacked - he would have died.

Evan, on the other hand, was pleasantly surprised by the Enderman's demeanor; though not too terribly surprised. Kuu had been showing signs of his intents all along. Even attacked an undead creature that would have attacked Evan in the next moments. He realized, then, that Kuu had purposfully attacked the Zombie. He hadn't mistaken it for him. He was trying to help him. And the items set before his door... had been put there for him. The strange, chattering laughter of the Enderman quited, before he sat beside Evan, his head tilted a bit as he watched him. Evan looked back up at him, finding himself less and less afraid to meet eyes with the creature.

Upon closer inspection, he realized that the Ender's face did show some emotion. Mostly in the eyes, and position of the head. The oddly wide mouth made it harder to tell, since it wasn't too easily seen until he opened it, but the eyes showed the most. In a way, the creature seemed to have a perpetual, if creepy, smile. Even if it was it's neutral expression. He was finding, though, that a better way to gauge the Enderman's mood was through his vocalizations. They were lighter and quicker when he was pleased or amused, and slower and quieter when calm or neutral. He'd heard the fear call, as well , and the constant, fast, sharp sounds he had made before he had calmed down; and the pained sounds.

Evan realized more and more that he actually COULD understand Kuu to a point... And the thought honestly excited him. He HAD to be the first person up close and personal with one of these things without ending up dead, or fighting for their life.

Kuu, on the other hand, found the human's way of expression emotions very interesting. Enders, such as himself, always showed it with vocalizations; it was the reason for their constant 'chatter' as some would put it. Humans showed it with their faces.

At first it had confused him, wondering why Evan was so quiet - but again he knew that their species were completely different despite some anatomical similarities. And now he could see it in his face. His small lips and face changed a lot with each expression. And Kuu realized, he could understand him, to a point. The two spent some time watching eachother; Evan quiet and Kuu letting out the occasional soft sound.

After a while, Evan decided to try a few different foods. He had some fruits and vegetables out there in his gardens, and the rain had nearly stopped. He wondered if Kuu would leave when the rain was fully done, and realized he would miss him if he did. He'd just met the shadowy being - but he found he liked him.

He came back inside, offering various fruits and vegetables to the Enderman; all of which were turned down with the sound he was starting to realize meant "No"

"You have to eat something!" Evan finally said in exasperation. Kuu tilted his head. He didn't put things in his mouth - to feed, like the human did. He just fed on the energy around him.

"Well..." Evan finally sighed, giving up. "I guess you'll eat when you are ready."He noticed the sun streaming back in through his window as the storm clouds finally thinned out and dissipated. The Enderman looked out the window as well with a pleased sound. The rain had stopped! There was the Foomf of him teleporting outside, which had Even actually feeling a bit disappointed, thinking Kuu had just up and left now that the rainstorm was done ... before the sound came again; and a chunk of stone laced with a vein of gold and quartz was laid at his feet.

Kuu vocalized again, and the shadowy creature... smiled. His mouth opened, but only a bit; lips revealing only half of the sharp teeth in his mouth. The creepiest smile Evan had ever seen, but all the same friendly. Evan couldn't help but smile back.

"Wow... thanks." He said. This confirmed it. This WAS the Enderman who had been following him for months. Never had he thought he'd ever encounter one like this, being perfectly friendly and docile.

"You are welcome to stay, you know. Find shelter here any time it rains." Evan said.

Kuu tilted his head, trying to figure out what he meant. He seemed.. inviting. His body language said 'stay' - was he being invited to stay here? It was nice; warm, and safe. And he liked the Evan human. To signify accepting the offer - if that was, in fact, what Evan was doing, he said his own word - a rather soft sound, though the tone a bit longer then some. Ender for 'yes'. He accepted.

Evan watched the Enderman for a time, then realized that he had managed to somewhat understand him - and even reply. And smiled. Well... at least he wasn't alone out here anymore. He knew he had a lot to learn, but he looked foward to the times ahead; Living in the wilds, in a self built house... with a particularly strange shadowy being as a friend and companion. He smiled as he got to work for the day, whistling a tune to himself. For the first time in months, he felt safe, even with the creepy, glowing eyes of his... yes, friend, watching him work.


	2. Endermen make things Awkward

Living with an Enderman was every bit as challenging, difficult... and sometimes downright frustrating, as one would think. Kuu didn't seem to know anything about how things worked around humans. Evan was just glad he didn't have to teach him what the toilet was! Kuu, in fact, never ate a thing. Evan started to realize that he 'ate' energy. He spent most of his time near the fireplace, soaking in the heat and energy of the flames. Evan was able to gauge his mood better and better - and realized that the soft almost purring coos he made in front of the fireplace were sounds of pleasure and contentment. He seemed to like the soft blanket he had bought at the trading post, too. He had, of course, gotten it for himself. But the Enderman had taken it over as his own.

A few days had passed since Kuu and fled into his home, injured, and scared. And so far the Enderman had stayed loyally at his side, his wounds all healed. He was actually a big help sometimes. He had strength, and his sharp claws could slash through stone with ease. And when he was working, Kuu would often teleport to his side in a flick of motion, and start working alongside him. It was shocking to see the Enderman's claws tearing up the rock... And frightening. Evan found himself very pleased that Kuu was on HIS side.

The one main problem, though... Kuu didn't know the meaning of a door. He just blinked about everywhere; door open, or closed, he'd find his way in. And he was undeniably curious. He ALWAYS had to know what Evan was doing.

There were a lot of differences between their cultures. Evan tried to get Kuu to wear clothes. It did not work.

Kuu, on the other hand, tried to get Evan to take his clothes off.

It worked, leaving Evan flushed red and covering himself and staring indignantly at the Enderman as his clothes lay in a clawed up heap on the floor at his feet. Kuu, of course, let out a triumphant little sound. Then he paused, and blinked. He looked down. 'What was that doing on the outside?' he wondered. Though of course Evan couldn't understand a word he spoke. He only knew that Kuu WAS speaking at the moment.

"Gods damn it, Kuu!" Evan said, flustered and embarassed. He snatched up his torn clothes with a sigh. "Oi, I wish you could understand me!"

Kuu understood one thing - Evan was suddenly irritated. His face had turned a funny color. Was he aroused? The Enderman had to pause and think about that for a moment, moving to push his hand aside. 'He HAD to be aroused; why else would that be outside, instead of inside?' He wondered.

"Your curiousity be damned..." Evan groaned, looking upwards and giving up, face as red as a ripe cherry. Might as well just let the creature get a look at him - he'd had a good look at Kuu, after all. A better look then he ever wanted. Kuu just stared for a moment, then looked at Evan's red face, then back down. He let out a little "Prrdhh." sound, and was gone with the "fwoomf" of a teleport that Evan had become so accustomed to in the past days. Seemed Kuu prefered the teleport rather then walk when he wanted to get places.

'Humans are weird' - he was thinking to himself. 'Why aroused? I don't get it.' He, at any rate, wanted nothing to do with his 'aroused' friend. 'Take care of that, if you will.'

Red-faced, Evan looked at his cut up clothes, and tossed them aside, before putting clean ones on. He came back out of his room, to see Kuu watching him, with a smug little look on his face.

"What?" He asked. He had no idea what the Enderman was thinking. Only that he looked amused. Evan had to get used to his smile, smirk, or amused look, since it showed those sharp teeth and the glowing inside of his friend's mouth. And he still found himself flinching a bit when he looked Kuu in the face. Kuu didn't seem to mind.

'That was quick' He was thinking. 'Must have been pent up. He needs a female.' His smirk disappeared, replaced by a thoughtful look. 'Where to get a female for him?'

And with that, Kuu was gone.

"Now where is he off to?" Evan wondered, staring at the spot and fading glowing particles where the Enderman had just been moments before.

'Female... female... female. Where to get a female for my Overworlder.' Kuu mused to humself as he came out of his teleport, eyes flicking left and right. 'Ah! Yes!' He started towards the settlment, where many Overworlders lived. The females were the ones with the bigger chests, he remembered. He'd followed Evan once, though stayed out of sight. So find one with a bigger chest; couldn't be TOO hard! It wasn't long before he found one, letting out a "coo" of delight. There she was! Strange looking creature, he thought, but to each their own. She was quite average for a human woman; green eyes and brown hair hanging to her mid back. She had it done up in a braid. Her build was curved, but not overly so. He preferred his females taller. Skinnier. And, of course, blacker. Judging by the pictures Evan kept in his room, Kuu thought this one looked the most similar to what he would like. Exactly, in fact. Actually - he had seen Evan talk to this female before. Yes; she would certainly do. Perfectly, in fact!

The woman jumped as she heard the sound, her eyes going huge in fright. She instinctively looked, meeting Kuu's gaze. Kuu just smiled triumphantly, thoroughly pleased with himself.

'You're coming with me!' He moved towards her quickly. 'My friend needs a female!' Of course she had NO Idea what he was saying or thinking. Only that a tall, black, shadowy Enderman was coming straight at her... showing all his teeth and reaching for her.

She screamed. Oh did she scream. She screamed and screamed and screamed, as she was picked up.

'So loud! Quiet down! Are all Overworld females so noisy?' He wondered. To his relief, the screams went quiet. 'There we go, much better!'

Evan jumped as he heard the "woopf' of the teleport once again. It was always so sudden. First thing he noticed... Kuu had something. No... SomeONE... in his arms. Then he saw who it was. Leanna. Leanna, the trader's daughter from the nearby settlement. A beautiful girl, who he had thought about courting once or twice, but always chickened out at the last moment; not sure if she'd share his feelings or not. Evan was rather shy, sometimes.

"KUU!? WHAT DID YOU DO!?" Evan yelled out in shock.

'I brought you female!' Kuu sounded absolutely delighted as he set her down on her feet. Evan couldn't quite get just WHY Kuu sounded so pleased! She instantly crumpled and hit the floor with a thud. She was out cold in a dead faint. Kuu looked down, blinking. '... oops.' He poked her carefully with a claw, 'I think she fell asleep.'

Evan clutched his head in stress and pulled at his hair. "She fainted! You probably scared the SHIT out of her! Aaaagh if you could JUST UNDERSTAND ME!" He paced around in circles, Kuu watching his every move.

Kuu just tilted his head. '... maybe this wasn't such a good idea?' He wondered. Evan just kept pacing, until there was a shift and groan from the female.

Her eyes opened, and she started screaming again, pointing at Kuu. Kuu doubted even Evan could understand her.

'Is that how female overworlder speaks?' Kuu made a face, covering his ears. 'No wonder he has no female here!'

But the screams quieted and she passed out again.

'... I think something is wrong with her.' He decided, moving closer and dropping into a crouch beside her.

"You will just scare her worse, Kuu!" Evan shouted, shaking his head with a frustrated sigh. His hand motions said one thing - Evan wanted him to back up a bit. So he did, straightening up and taking a few steps back. Evan watched for a moment, until Leanna woke up again.

She let out another yell. "EVAN!? EVAN! WHAT THE HELL!?" she screamed. "What... AAAAAH! BEHIND YOU!" She pointed at Kuu, who was peeking over his shoulder.

".. Yes I know. He's... er... a friend." He said, shaking his head. "He... ah... I don't know what has gotten into him."

"A FRIEND!? THAT THING ALMOST KILLED ME!" She pointed accusingly at Kuu.

"I really don't think he... meant any harm." Evan rubbed his temples.

"It came rushing out at me, growling and muttering all the while!" Leanna shouted.

"He. And... I don't know. I think he brought you to me, for SOME reason." He turned to give Kuu a long stare.

Kuu just smiled and let out a pleased "prrdh" sound. The smile made Leanna scream. Evan once again tried to calm the woman down.

"He's... smiling. I know, just... That sound is his happy sound. He's been around for... a bit. I can... tell his mood, by the sounds he makes. This..." He rubbed his temples again. "This is going to take some explaining..."

Leanna was finally calming down, staring from Evan, to Kuu.

"First off... His name is Kuu. Well, that's what I am calling him. I think it's some sort of different word... in his tongue. I still haven't figured out what he is saying. There is a clear pattern to his vocalizations but... I haven't figured anything out yet. I just have to guess based on his mood and he seems to understand that and does what he can to help me understand when he wants me to know something." Evan explained. "He's been here for a few days now. Trust me, he won't hurt you." 

Leanna was looking at Kuu nervously again, who was sitting behind Evan. Even sitting, he was taller then the standing Evan. He was a long, lanky, skinny thing. "You.. you're going to have to explain this to me, yeah..." She sounded scared, and confused.

Evan took a deep breath. "Allright. It started with.. finding random things set in front of my door. He was following me around, I think. Even attacked an Undead, I think to protect me. You know that storm a few days ago?"

Leanna nodded.

"Well..." Evan continued. "you know how water hurts Endermen. I've seen them die from the rain. He came running into my house, seeking safety and refuge... then passed out. I cleaned his wounds. Let him stay until the storm let up and he just sort of.. stayed. He's not so bad when you get to know him. A bit... strange... but, well... He's not human. He doesn't speak my language, and I do not speak his. He's been nice to have around. A lot of the monsters that roam these parts don't come around anymore with him here. And if they do, he quickly chases them off. He's also able to claw through solid stone, and is glad to help me deepen my mine and look for ores and minerals as long as I let him keep anything he finds interesting. He seems to particularly like oddly shaped or colored rocks, for some reason."

Fortunately, the woman was calming down as she listened to Evan. She still stared at Kuu, clearly nervous. She had realized by now that he was not going to hurt her; but it didn't do much for her natural fear of the creature. If he had wanted to kill her, she would be dead. Especially with what Evan was saying, how he could slash through stone with his claws. She realized that not even her clothes were damaged. She still shook , though, from the adrenaline rushing through her.

Kuu watched her as she shivered. 'She is cold.' He finally decided, and went and got his soft blanket, coming back. She jerked away at first, before the warm fabric settled over her shoulders. That made her stare for a moment.

"...Th-thank you..." She said, blinking. She looked at Evan. "Why did he..."

"He probably thinks you are cold." He said. "That's my... er, his, blanket. I got it for me but he kind of took it over. One can't argue with claws that can slash through stone." The last part was a bit of a joke, which got a slight, nervous laugh out of Leanna.

"He's really... nice." Leanna finally said. Her shaking calmed, as she realized she had nothing to be afraid of.

"Let's... get you home." Evan said, after a moment. "Before it gets dark."

Leanna nodded. "Yeah... probably a good idea." She said, letting out a breath.

"Just... don't tell anybody about him, allright?" Evan asked.

"I won't. But if he comes in taking people to you like that somebody is going to find out." Leanna said. "It could be dangerous to him. He might end up being hunted down."

"I know, I know... I'll try to find some way to explain it to him." Evan stood, and took Leanna's delicate hand in his. He exited his door, giving Kuu a firm look. Kuu realized he wanted him to stay behind. His eyes brightened up with an impish little grin, before picking his blanket back up and flopping on his bed with it. It was a long bed, made for his long and tall stature. He peeked out the window as the two walked into the woods, down the path Evan had made to find his way to the settlement with ease.

It was some hours before Evan returned, without Leanna. Kuu just kept giving him that impish little grin, speaking something Evan could not understand.

Evan looked at Kuu and sighed. "Please don't do that again..." he breathed out, slumping against the wall with a sigh. "There is no way she will ever speak to me again."

Kuu's small smile disappeared as he tilted his head a bit. Maybe bringing her hadn't been the right thing to do. He felt bad, now - seemed things hadn't gone the way he planned. His next sound was soft, and rather sheepish. Evan understood that well enough; Kuu was apologizing.

Evan mustered a smile. "It's... allright." he sighed, patting his friend's shoulder. "You probably didn't know any better."

Kuu's smile returned. He'd been forgiven. Lesson learned - don't bring a female to Evan. Maybe he would just let Evan approach females on his own. Yes – much better idea.

Evan sat down with some tea, and sighed. "You make every day more interesting." He said, to Kuu. Kuu watched him, then cringed when he saw him drinking. He had to wonder how Evan was able to drink it. If he tried he'd be throwing up blood for days! But Evan drank it without a problem. He looked more closely. WAS that water? The color was different. It couldn't be water; water was deadly. It had to be something else. He slowly reached out and poked a finger in it when Evan wasn't looking.

Ow! Yes, definately water. Letting out a hiss/growl of pain, Kuu jerked back, the sudden motion knocking the cup over, sending the Enderman hopping back with a howl of fright. Somehow ending up ON Evan's shoulders in an almost feline reaction.

Evan flailed at the sudden weight and claws on his shoulders, and fell over backwards, ending up with both males on the floor in a confused heap of limbs. Then the familiar sound of a teleport had Evan's head falling to the floor. He heard the tap of claws and nervous sounds from the roof of his home.

Evan just sighed at that, rubbing at his bloodied shoulders. He cleaned the scratches, before going out to coax the Enderman down off the roof. After a few moments, he teleported back inside, though kept a wide berth from the now empty glass and puddle on the floor. Evan got a cloth and cleaned the floor, before going to get more tea.

"Don't touch it, this time..." Evan sighed "Your curiosity be damned..." Kuu didn't even have to understand what he said to decide never to touch anything Evan drank ever again.

Evan turned to look at Kuu, who was staring at his cup of tea warily. He couldn't help but smile. As utterly interesting as the day had been... at least it hadn't been boring. He found himself starting to chuckle, which earned a rather displeased sound from Kuu. He could swear the Enderman was pouting at him. The sounds he made seemed to clearly say "Not funny!"

But Evan found it hilarious. Kuu made another displeased sound before teleporting to his bed and flopping down sulkily. He gave Evan a long stare before grumbling to himself and turning his back on the human to stare at the wall. Evan laughed a bit more before he leaned his head back, and decided to go to bed. It had been a very long … and very interesting, day. As, he figured, every day would be with an Enderman as a friend.


	3. Human Females are Nicer

Days turned into weeks, as the Enderman remained with Evan. They could understand eachother a bit better now; though still had a lot of awkward moments where things were lost in translation, or they just flat out could not figure anything out. But for the most part, things were going quite smoothly.

Kuu turned out to be the most loyal friend one could wish for. And Evan was glad for the company, even if they could not speak with eachother. He wanted to actually talk to Kuu – not gesture and play guessing games. But all the same, just being in his company was nice. He lost his habit of flinching when their eyes met. Kuu didn't mind being looked at. Each time he met his glowing eyes he was greeted with a soft "prrrdh" or "rruk vrrr" of greeting. Evan now had a very good idea of the Enderman's personality. Playful. A bit mischievous, sometimes. Evan had lost count of the times he'd woken up to a pile of dirt or sand at the foot of his bed, or Kuu's face mere inches from his own. Though the first time he'd jolted upright and banged foreheads with the Enderman made him stare from a bit more of a distance. No matter HOW used to Kuu he was, he would never get used to staring glowing eyes first thing in the morning. The worst thing was, Kuu found his reaction hilarious. And so he continued to do it. Almost every damn morning. Kuu was stubborn, too. When he got an idea in his head, nothing was stopping him.

Since the awkward moment of Kuu 'kidnapping' Leanna to bring her to his home, he hadn't had the nerve to go back and trade. And Kuu hadn't stepped foot anywhere near the village. He had thought better of it; Getting sighted would be a bad idea; He could hold off one, two, or even three humans, but if a whole group came after him... he cringed at the thought. No – it was better to keep from getting discovered. He liked it here, a lot better then the realm known as the End. The End was dreary and lifeless, nothing but black sky and dull, boring stone wherever he went. He liked it here; where he had companionship and the colorful world around him. There was so much more to look at... and Evan was a lot friendlier then his own kind.

Kuu, lost in thought, fell a few steps behind Evan, watching the sky calmly. He admired the soft, white clouds floating high above him and the occasional bird; and enjoyed the ambient energy of the world around him. He was torn from his reverie, though, by what happened next.

He heard the agitated sounds of one of his own kind, just in front of Evan. Evan... obviously very used to these sounds, looked right up. His face grew pale when the Enderman... A bit taller slimmer then Kuu actually, let out that bone-chilling scream. Evan backed away quickly, almost falling on his butt.

Suddenly, a second bone-chilling threat-scream followed, this one from Kuu. His entire body was tensed, mouth wide open, eyes wild. He practically flew around Evan, placing himself between the other Ender and his friend. The strange Ender teleported behind Evan, but Kuu blocked its attack once again, quick on his feet. There was a clatter of claws and a snap of teeth, and a hiss of pain from Kuu. Evan had his weapon, but it seemed to be stuck in the scabbard at the moment. That, or his sudden panic had him fumbling wildly to grab it.

He found himself more concerned with the wellbeing of Kuu, then for himself. Every hit his friend received made him cringe as if he himself had been hit. The two Enders clashed again, the noise of the fight growing into a loud clamour of clattering claws, snapping teeth, and vicious snarls, screams, and roars. Every teleport was met, every attack blocked. Claws and teeth clashed, a splash of Ender blood landed on Evan's face. He finally jerked his sword out of the scabbard, but the two were too intertwined for him to attack without risking injuring Kuu. He waited for them to separate, circling eachother and growling viciously. He charged at the strange Ender, but was knocked back with ease. His sword, slashed in half by the other ender's sharp claws, went flying from his hand. The taller Ender screamed and rushed at him again, glowing eyes wild with bloodlust. Kuu screamed his battle cry, and charged. He intercepted the other Ender before they wet into a tumble of snapping fangs and slashing claws onto the ground. Evan felt another splash of blood as he fumbled for his bow. His shaking hands dropped his arrows all over the ground.

As they got closer, Evan got a sudden idea. Sword slashed in half and arrows scattered on the ground from dropping them, he took out his canteen and opened it. Enders could not tolerate water... He could maybe distract the newcomer enough to give Kuu a running chance. Kuu's screams were quick becoming pain and fear. If it wasn't for Evan, he would have teleported away to safety to regather himself and tend to his wounds, but he was not about to leave Evan there alone to face it.

Kuu shrieked in agony again as sharp fangs sank into his neck. He clawed and thrashed, eyes wide and claws raking wildly, now fighting for his life.

"NO!" Evan screamed, and threw the canteen at the enemy, sending the water inside splashing out. That did the trick. Its fangs detached from Kuu's neck as it screamed loudly in agony, teleporting away from the water before stumbling and slashing the trees with its claws. Kuu jumped back, though the water was nowhere near him, before rushing at the other again. They soon found themselves in another standoff, growling and circling eachother. They both uttered that bone-chilling scream, back and forth. The sound was frightening, and terrible.

Then, as quickly as it began, the fight was over. Kuu's entire body suddenly relaxed completely, his head coming up and the scream dying off midway through. He took in a deep breath of air, and his entire body suddenly shivered all over. The scent sent waves of heat rushing throughout his entire body and a surge of hormone driven instinct to cloud his mind.

He knew that smell. This was no EnderMAN – this was a female. And she was receptive. This meant that she was in the rare state where she could actually become pregnant. Her scent was thoroughly intoxicating to Kuu. It seemed to take over Kuu's every thought, cutting off his attack like somebody had flipped a switch.

Kuu's growl suddenly turned into more of a purr, going from viciously aggressive to highly interested. His body reacted to his raging hormones instantly.

The male's reaction and change of scent took the female's attention completely off of Evan. She was now staring at Kuu, still growling fiercely, though the sound of it changed a bit. Softened slightly. They circled eachother once. Twice. Three times. Each movement had Kuu acting a bit friskier, eyes bright, steps quick despite his wounds and pain. It almost liked like a courtship display. Kuu moved, following his instincts with every step.

Then, Kuu made his move and took a step closer, standing as tall and imposing as he could. But he was young, and inexperienced. He did not impress the female. She narrowed her eyes and bared her teeth. It all happened in a blur.

The female screamed her threat cry and lashed out at Kuu fiercely. He let out a whine of pain, before the female hissed at him, and vanished with the unmistakeable sound of a teleport. Kuu, though, crouched, glued to the spot. He shivered from time to time. For the first time in a while Evan was almost afraid to approach him. He was growling almost constantly, but there was an urgent keening sound to it.

Evan finally approached him. He gently touched his shoulder. Kuu's glowing eyes flashed towards him.

"Are you... allright?" Evan asked. He made sure to emphasize his tone of voice, and express clear concern.

"Haaarrr... vuukk..." Kuu panted. His mind was buzzing at the moment, spinning and fogged. Drunk from the scent of the female, and the humiliation of her fierce rejection to his advances. He was bleeding from his neck and many other places, and in serious pain. But it wasn't just his body that was hurt. His pride had been smashed to pieces by the whole thing.

Evan frowned in concern as he took off his shirt and started tearing it into strips.. "Here... Let me..." he didn't finish, and started to gently dab his friend's wounds with the cloth. They went deep, and bled heavily. Evan brow furrowed with clear concern and worry. Kuu relaxed as he worked at his wounds, eyes half closed. It was clear he trusted Evan deeply. Evan tried to get Kuu to move out of his crouch, but Kuu did not want to move. He let out a few quiet, protesting sounds, before finally giving in and standing up. He was wounded in many places, and he would need to let Evan get at all of them.

That was when Evan balked, staring dumbly at what he saw before him. If it had just been the tip like before, he might have been able to look away and be unaffected. Since that moment when he had first met Kuu, he hadn't seen the slightest flicker of arousal in his friend. But no... Nothing was left to the imagination now. Kuu was painfully hard, his body trembling from time to time. The bulge beneath the slit was full as well. Evan could easily guess what THAT was. Kuu shifted restlessly from foot to foot, emitting constant keening growls. Evan felt a bit worried... His friend looked so uncomfortable.

"Let's go home." He said, motioning with his hand towards home. Kuu knew what that meant, and nodded meekly. He followed behind Evan, instead of teleporting ahead like usual. He moved low to the ground and slowly, pausing to pant a bit from time to time in both pain, and arousal. Once or twice, the keening growls took on an almost desperate tone. By the time they got back home, Kuu was even more restless. He paced and paced and paced, back and forth and back and forth and back and forth. Evan could tell he was clearly frustrated, and the... evidence made no sign of going away. Finally, Kuu lay on his bed, eyes closed. He tried to ignore his need, but it wouldn't go away. He had never felt like THIS before. His body wanted... no NEEDED, release. It almost hurt. He squirmed and shifted in his bed, letting out another whine and panting heavily. Evan frowned.

"Female?" He asked. Kuu knew what he meant by that; they had enough of an understanding of eachother to know certain words, mostly from poring through picture books, and each saying their word for it until they knew what it meant.

"Hhhh... Hhhh... Vyezz..." Kuu panted. His way of saying yes.

"Ender Female?" He asked again. Another nod.

Now he wished he had managed to get a slightly closer look. She'd looked... almost exactly like Kuu. The only difference he had seen had been that she was a little taller and slimmer then him... And a hell of a lot more aggressive. But then, he wasn't exactly paying much attention to her. He was too busy panicking and trying to get his sword drawn and defend himself and his friend to notice much about the attacker.

He sat down beside the bed to try to calm his friend down, but it wasn't working. And … of course that was when there was a soft knock at the door. Now WHO would be coming to visit at a time like this!? He gathered himself and went to the door. Kuu went quiet, but was still in clear discomfort.

Evan opened the door, and almost fell over himself in shock. Leanna had come back to visit! He stuttered for a moment. "I thought you never wanted to see me again!" He finally managed to gasp.

"What? I never said that." She said.

"I just thought with that whole thing with Kuu..."

"Sweeping me off my feet and dragging me here?" Leanna interrupted, sounding a bit amused. "I admit, it scared the shit out of me at the time but I'm... well, it's an interesting memory. I give it that. Is he still here, by the way?"

Evan nodded. "Though he's not exactly... presentable at the moment." He said. "... Hard to explain, but he's acting very odd." He wasn't going to tell a lady the condition his friend was in.

Kuu, trying to be quiet out of respect of Evan, suddenly let out another keening sound, unable to hold it back. He sounded miserable.

Leanna moved quickly to his side. "Oh my... are you allright?" She asked. "What is wrong with him? He looks..."

"We had a bad run-in with another of his species. He... and his pride... got a little hurt." Evan tried to explain.

The scent of another female suddenly hit him. He turned to stare at Leanna in a very unsettling manner. The next sound was a confused half growl. She took a step back, looking really nervous.

"Are you SURE he's allright?" She frowned.

In the next moment, Leanna suddenly flushed when Kuu leapt out of bed and jumped away from her. He stared at her intensely for several moments, his body still shivering with his frustration. And things obviously hadn't improved any. He shifted, paced twice, then teleported away. Once outside, they both heard the sound several more times, erratic without any real pattern until he was gone.

Leanna was completely speechless, trying to muster words for what she had seen. "What... what was THAT about?" She asked, clearly in some amount of shock. "He was..."

Evan scratched the back of his head. "Apparently... Our encounter wasn't just with another of his kind. It was with with a... female. I don't know what happened. One moment she's intent on tearing me to pieces... He jumps in and they start fighting, and the next minute his demeanor changes... it all went downhill from there. He approached her and she lashed out at him and teleported away. He only got worse after that. I guess the presence of another female, regardless of the species finished setting him off. I don't know the next thing about their... erm..." Evan cleared his throat and scratched the back of his head. "Endermen's mating habits but..." He trailed off. "Heh... This is really awkward to talk about, isn't it?"

"Not as awkward as being kidnapped by an Enderman trying to play matchmaker." Leanna couldn't help but laugh.

Evan cleared his throat again. "Ah.. well... um..."

"I have to say it is a day I will never forget." She said.

"I still don't understand why he decided to do that. But I've come to realize that once he gets his mind on something he never gives up. He's stubborn. And he has absolutely NO clue whatsoever bout human culture."

"You seem to know him well." Leanna said.

"Well... Yeah, I do." He said. "Even if our languages are completely different, we've found ways around that. I can tell you one thing... He's got a good heart. He's saved my life a few times. Hell, he probably saved my life today, defending me against one of his own kind. Though I suppose it was my own fault for looking at her but I am so used to having him around that I don't think twice before looking at him. I guess I'll have to be more careful, and always know exactly where he is to avoid another run-in like today. It all happened so fast, and could have been avoided. I still wonder what he is doing staying here with me instead of going back to his own world."

"I'm sure he has his reasons." Leanna said. "From the stories told to me, the End is supposedly a desolate place, abandoned of all hope as a failure by the Gods. A place where no human could survive; the only things living there are the Endermen and a fearsome dragon."

"Yes, I've heard the story." Evan nodded. "The Enderdragon is their leader... or something... But if the End is so devoid of life, maybe they come here because of the energy here. I notice he seems to drink in the warmth of the fire. He never eats; Never even tries. I think he 'eats' energy."

"That does make a bit of sense." Leanna said. "You think he'll be back anytime soon?"

"With the amount of frustration he was showing, I think it'll be a while." Evan said.

After that they talked about other things. He realized that Leanna really hadn't minded the whole experience once she'd come to terms. She'd been thinking about he and Kuu since that night several weeks ago. She'd gotten concerned when she didn't see him after that; and finally decided to come down and visit. They talked about many things that night; until the sound of Teleporting announced Kuu's return. There was no evidence of his earlier... frustration; he must have gone off to take care of it.

Back at a normal state of mind, he greeted Leanna with an apologetic look. He hadn't meant to frighten her. 

"He's saying he is sorry." Evan explained.

"Aww... It's allright." She smiled at him. "You couldn't help yourself."

He dropped into a crouch, watching Evan, then Leanna. He looked a bit tired, but otherwise back to his usual self. While he couldn't understand her words, he understood what she meant. He shook himself a bit then sat in front of the fire, taking a deep breath and closing his eyes. He took in the heat of it without moving. His wounds had scabbed over by now, though he seemed clearly sore.

Evan, of course, went over worriedly to look him over. He was mostly relieved Kuu was back to normal. That whole thing had been both unsettling, and a bit scary. Kuu re-assured him with quiet cooing sounds, followed by a yawn.

'Your females are nicer.' Kuu said. Evan actually understood him – mostly, and had to laugh a bit.

"I would say so." He said.

"What did he say?" Leanna asked.

"To me it sounded like he was saying that the human women are nicer then Ender women." Evan said. "And judging by the fact that she tried to kill both of us I'd say he's right."

Leanna laughed. "Oh my, I had better be careful or he might come on to me."

Evan blushed a bit. "Did you want to go home? I know it is dark out but the monsters won't come anywhere near with Kuu around. It should be safe to go back to the village. And my couch isn't the most comfortable thing to sleep on."

Leanna looked out the window, surprised, but nodded. "if you are sure we will be safe." She said.

"We will." He said. "Come on, Kuu." He motioned for Kuu to follow. The three headed back towards the village. Once in the range of the lights, Kuu stopped, hanging back to the shadows as Evan walked Leanna up to her door.

"Come visit again, hear?" She smiled. Evan nodded. "I will." He said. The humans parted ways, and he and his Enderman friend met back at the treeline.

"Well whaddya think of that, Kuu!" He said, seeming suddenly very happy. He leaned back on a tree. "I think she likes me."

Kuu let out a pleased little "prrdh!" before he took hold of Evan and jumped into a teleport. Evan yelped in surprise, feeling his head spinning at the rapid warping and moving about, until everything went still and he found them at his house. He felt suddenly extrememly disoriented. Everything spun around him worse then the times he'd drank himself to oblivion at the trading post's tavern. 

He blinked twice, staggered, and fell over backwards. Kuu caught him, blinked, and stared down at him. 'you ok?' He expressed his concern more in his tone of voice then his Enderspeak.

"Don't DO that!" Evan gasped, then suddenly rushed out of Kuu's arms and staggered off to the bathroom. Kuu followed, only to see the green-faced man hunched over his toilet and throwing up. He didn't stay crouched at the doorway for long. He made a face at the smell, and went back to the main room, waiting until a rather disoriented Evan came back into the room, slumping on the couch dizzily.

'Lesson learned... Do not teleport human without warning.' Kuu thought to himself. 'It makes them… do whatever he just did.'


	4. Enderman vs Snow

The months flew by, living with Kuu. Things were never boring; and he found he liked spending time with the Enderman. He was starting to learn more about Kuu. For one, the Ender was very affectionate; and had little to no idea what Personal Space was. He seemed to always be near Evan, when he wasn't doing something else. Evan found himself wondering if Kuu had been lonely before they actually met face to face. He was seeing more and more of his nature and personality. Kuu was a gentle and caring soul, sweet and kind. Evan was pleasantly surprised; before he met Kuu he would have NEVER expected one of the shadowy, frightening apparitions of the darkness to be so gentle.

He was starting to wonder if humans had Endermen all wrong. They were tall, scary, and often responded with that heart-shattering sound they made. People who 'barely survived' an encounter still survived. With injuries that only left scars. Like himself. He remembered the zombie Kuu had utterly destroyed. One slash of claws and it's head had been lopped clean off – and yet his first ever encounter with an Enderman before he met Kuu had left him with deep gashes and unconscious on the ground; not dead. Not in three different pieces on the ground like that zombie.

Had it just been afraid, and defending itself? The whole experience was blurred. He remembered very little other then pain, something black, and those glowing eyes. And as he fell unconscious, the Enderman teleporting away. He had been sure it would lay it's killing blow but there had been no more signs of it... and he had passed out. Surely Endermen had the strength and ability to kill a human with a single blow if they wanted to; but the more he thought of it, the fewer deaths were due to an Enderman attack. Most deaths happened after the fact, of a person dying from their injuries or of bleeding out. Didn't humans do the same, with their weapons? With their bows and arrows, swords, and daggers? When panicking, a human always grabbed weapons first, and asked questions later. In many ways, Kuu was very... human. He clearly had a language, and a full range of emotions. He had his own personality and temperament; he had his stubborn side and his sweet side. Though sometimes he could be like a child. Evan had a feeling Kuu was new to this dimension. He showed such clear fascination with the smallest things that most people overlooked. A certain childlike outlook that most humans lost as they got older.

Kuu had loved autumn. The colorful leaves, especially. He loved the way they looked, and the way they crunched. Evan was STILL finding and cleaning up piles of leaves in his house. Kuu had gotten every leaf he could get his hands on, and brought it inside. Consequently, this made quite a mess. Sometimes he even walked over to place one on Evan's head, cooing his amusement as Evan brushed it off and raised a brow. Kuu's playful mischief never ended.

Winter had finally arrived. The days had been colder and colder each day. The lake behind his house was frozen over completely. The ground was frozen and frost made everything glimmer every morning. It was beautiful, and Kuu was fond of it.

Kuu had been an incredible help in preparing for winter. He was glad to help hunt, and skin what they caught. He learned quickly; Evan only had to show him how to scrape the fat and such off of a deer's skin once. After that, Kuu could do it with ease, and was happy to do so to help Evan. The blood always seemed to disappear the next time he teleported. That solved one mystery. Apparently, Endermen 'bathed' by teleporting away from the mess. Though heavens knew where the accumulated dirt and grime went, since there was never anything left behind after Kuu teleported.

Kuu could slash through wood as if it was butter, and had the strength to pull down trees, and stop them from crashing down too hard. He even helped stack the wood and carry it inside. He really did make the workload a lot easier. And he loved helping where he could. He KNEW he was strong. A lot stronger then Evan; and he figured he might as well use his strength to help his friend. He knew Evan needed wood to keep the house warm; and he liked when the house was warm. He was noticing that it was getting colder. While cold didn't bother Kuu, he noticed Evan was not fond of it. He often had to pause work to rub his hands, or warm them up. The warmth benefited both of them. Evan was happy with how well things worked out. He had never thought it would be possible for an Enderman and a Human to live in harmony.

By now, Kuu had his own room; though he never closed the door. He saw no need for a door. The old house had only had one room available at first; the living room. Both beds, and the couch had been sitting in the livingroom. The bedrooms had needed a lot of repair to be livable. Evan hadn't bothered with it before; he had lived alone, after all. He figured he had no need for the other two rooms so he'd had them boarded off and empty. But now that he had a housemate he'd worked hard on the rest of the house. Both bedrooms were finished, and well built; and the livingroom no longer had two beds in it. Kuu had learned quickly which room belonged to him – and every interesting thing he found ended up in there. Mostly things that were ether shiny or brightly colored. He seemed to like having his own space, though he didn't spend that much of his time in there. He just stored whatever he wanted to keep in there. Most of the time he was either with Evan in his room, or in the living room, or outside wandering about and finding more interesting things to bring inside.

Evan had noticed the night before that the clouds were getting heavy; he was sure they were going to have their first snow soon. For once, Kuu was actually fast asleep when he woke up. He decided to get some reading in while his shadowy friend slept.

Kuu shifted and cood softly in his sleep, stretching a bit. Evan had made the bed especially for him, after all. It was long, and able to accommodate something twice as tall as Evan was. He realized Kuu didn't always sleep. He just slept sometimes; whenever he seemed bored with something. He didn't seem to need nearly as much sleep as Evan did.

Looking up from his book, he realized it had begun to snow. Soft flakes floating down, blown about by a cold winter wind.

For hours, Evan read as it snowed on and on and Kuu slept like a hunk of obsidian. It had snowed about 8 inches when Kuu finally woke up. Evan knew he was awake without looking when he heard the familiar soft cooing.

"Morning, sleepyhead." Evan smirked.

Kuu returned it with a soft greeting, before coming out, ducking to get through the door, and sitting down in a chair that had been made for him. The house was looking more and more like an Enderman lived there; the long bed, the taller chairs, and such things that were higher so Kuu did not have to bend down to pick them up. He had to bend down between rooms, but he could straighten fully in the livingroom. 

The Enderman turned and looked out the window, his expression suddenly curious. The snow caught the light, glittering and beautiful as it floated gently to the ground, where it settled. Everything was covered in a pristine blanket of white. Kuu thought it was probably the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. He purred in delight. Before Evan could stop him, Kuu was outside. Evan, concerned, soon went out after him. Snow was made of water – it could hurt the Enderman. But it didn't seem to be effecting him at the moment. He was standing in it watching it float around him in pure fascination.

"Never seen snow before?" Evan chuckled a bit. Kuu picked up a handful of it, tossing it into the air and watching it fall. He picked up another, though this one was more tightly packed, and tossed it up. It landed on his head, making him shake it off with a little huff. And then he was off. Evan couldn't help but laugh. Kuu was like a child in the snow, jumping about, shaking it out of trees, teleporting on top of the house to knock it down, teleporting to the ground and trampling it beneath his feet. He found it... downright adorable. He just hoped the snow wouldn't hurt Kuu; and was ready to bring him inside instantly if it did. Then he felt a snowball hit the side of his head with a poof.

"Whaa..." He turned to stare at Kuu, whose entire stance was pure playfulness. He danced from foot to foot, and took off. Running, not teleporting. It was rare to see Kuu going any faster then a walk if he wasn't teleporting. 

"Why you..." Evan picked up a snowball and gave chase. He threw it at Kuu... who teleported out of the way. Evan rolled his eyes. Of course he would do that. He grunted as a cascade of snow fell on him from behind, and turned around to see Kuu teleporting off again. He knew he was no match against a tall, teleporting creature of darkness; but he tried anyway. Kuu wandered onto the frozen over lake near his house. Kuu skittered, claws digging gouges into the ice. This distracted Kuu enough for Evan to finally make a hit with a snowball. Kuu let out a sharp little sound, before teleporting off the ice and running behind the house again.

This went on for a few minutes before Kuu suddenly let out a hiss of pain. The snow around his feet had melted, leaving bleeding burns. He jumped away from the spot, staring. He was trying to figure out where the water had come from, until he felt stinging elsewhere. More of the snow was melting onto his skin, and each bit that melted bit into his skin and hurt like hell.

That had been what Evan was afraid of. That the snow would hurt him; and he felt bad that it was, too. Kuu had liked it so much. The Enderman jumped around a few times. He looked slightly panicked; and confused. He wasn't exactly sure what was going on. The sun was up, and it was warming up a bit, and the snow melting faster now. When he picked it up, it started to melt, stinging and burning his hands. Then he realized it was turning into water. He hissed and knocked Evan over backwards in his desperation to get back inside. He teleported instead of opening the door, like usual. His eyes wide, he stared out the window. How could something so... pretty, and nice... be so painful?

Evan acted quickly, taking a towel to clean off as much snow as he could before it melted. He was just glad the Ender had no hair – hair was a bitch to dry.

He pointed outside. "Snow. It is hard water." He said. Kuu watched him as he started treating the bloodied spots. They knew more of eachother's vocabulary now; though things were still lost in translation.

Kuu watched the snow falling outside, and looked back at Evan, then back outside. He looked a bit conflicted. It had been so nice – but then it hurt. The words hard and water, he understood. He did not know that water hardened. But the ice Evan used to keep his food cold was also hard water; and he had never tried to touch it. It was not like the snow outside. But now that he looked at it, realizing what it was, he found he didn't like it anymore. He growled out the window at it, pulling his lips back to reveal all his teeth, before retreating under his blankets. Evan sighed a bit.

"You know I really wish I could have warned you first..." He said. Kuu let out a little coo, before peeking out from under the blanket looking out the window again with a shiver. Nope... He was not going back out there until that evil white was gone. It started off nice, but bit like a bitch. He let out a huff and turned away from the window.

"At least it's not bad." Evan said, handing his friend a bandage. Kuu bandaged up his feet, which had been hit the hardest by the melting snow. Kuu understood enough to be thankful that the wounds weren't that bad, and he confirmed his understanding with a "Prrdh" A little rest and he'd be fine. He got out of bed and wandered over to the fire to sit down in front of it, soaking in the warmth. Taking in extra energy would help him heal more quickly.

He was learning more and more how to understand Evan; as Evan was learning to understand him. He tried to imitate human speech sometimes, but it didn't always work out. The words didn't form quite right; his mouth, and tongue were built differently. Evan did find it quite amusing when Kuu tried to speak Common.

Evan quickly realized that Kuu no longer liked the snow. He wouldn't go out in it. In fact, as long as that shining carpet of white was on the ground, Kuu wouldn't step foot at the door. He would even growl at it when Evan opened the door. Even found it rather amusing, though he kinda felt bad, too. It sucked to have something you really liked turn out to be painful.

"You know you'll be fine as long as you don't let it melt on you." Evan said. Kuu let out a little huff.

Evan got an idea to cheer up his friend. He went into his room and brought out a guitar he had bought recently. With all of Kuu's help, he had found more and more items he could trade for; and was making quite a nice life for himself. As Kuu watched him curiously, he started to play. A song with a nice flow to it. His fingers flew over the guitar strings as he started to sing, softly at first, then gaining in strength of his voice. It had been a while since he'd just sat down and played and sang. It felt good, and he could see his friend clearly enjoyed it.

Kuu absolutely loved it. The music soothed him, making him lay down and relax with his eyes half closed. He let out soft purrs of delight throughout the whole thing, until Evan set the guitar down and leaned back. There was nothing like spending a cold winter's day inside his warm house with his unusual friend.

'Who knew...' Evan mused to himself. 'Endermen like music!'

Then he had another thought. Something else he thought Kuu would like... if he could get the Enderman to try it. He had no luck getting Kuu to try food since he didn't need to eat and thus saw no need to.

"Here. Let's try something else." The man said, before bringing out a cake he had gotten at the village. "I know you don't eat but you'll like this. Trust me."

He cut the cake into pieces, and held out a plate to Kuu. Kuu looked at him, then at the plate.

"You eat it." Evan said, showing him; then showing clearly by his voice that it tasted good and that he enjoyed it. "You don't have to but it is good."

Curiousity got the better of Kuu, and he finally poked a claw in the frosting and licked the sweet substance off. Evan made the peculiar observation that the Enderman's saliva had a slight glow to it. Kuu was quiet for a moment, then let out a purr of delight. He ate the piece quickly, licking the frosting off his lips and fangs, then licking the plate clean.

"Told you you'd like it." Evan smirked. He leaned back against the wall and ate his own piece, much slower.

Kuu, of course, adored it. And he wanted more.

"Well, might as well not let this go bad." Evan said. Besides; Kuu was still somewhat sulky after he was betrayed by the pretty white snow. "I can't eat it all myself." He gave the Enderman another piece. Kuu seemed insatiable when it came to that delicious cake. Whatever Evan didn't eat was snapped up quickly with razor sharp teeth. Evan didn't think to stop him; Kuu didn't need to eat so the thought that the Enderman could make himself sick off of too many sweets didn't even cross the man's mind.

But there was one little side effect that Kuu, and Evan for that matter, had not been expecting. First off, there was the sugar high. Kuu couldn't sit still. He paced and paced and paced, back and forth and back and forth, until the clicking of his claws and the constant sound of teleporting was about ready to drive Evan nuts. Kuu's constant cooing and vocalizations were even MORE frequent and excited then usual, and the house ended up completely re-arranged. Three times. Even Evan was picked up and moved elsewhere when Kuu decided that whatever he was sitting needed to be elsewhere. Evan had just given up on trying to calm Kuu down by this point and regretted more and more giving him so much gods damned cake.

Worse yet, Kuu still refused to go outside. He had no interest in getting near that snow again. So he was stuck, hyper off of a sugar high, inside a small house, with little to no outlet for all his energy.

Then came the crash, Kuu suddenly feeling tired... and sick. He'd never felt like that before. Evan realized he had given Kuu entirely too much cake when the tall, black creature suddenly let out a groan, hunched over, and threw up. He clearly didn't recognize the feeling, because he looked completely confused by it, followed by rather displeased sounds. Having never thrown up before, Kuu really had no idea what was going on. So of course he didn't go running for the bathroom – he'd just hunched over and did it where he was standing at the time the urge came. Evan was just glad it'd been on the floor. Not the couch or something else harder to clean. Kuu covered his nose and made a face before spitting a few times to rid himself of the taste and smell. And it wasn't like he could drink water, or even rinse. He would just have to deal with it until the taste went away. But at least he felt better afterwards. The unpleasant feeling in his abdomen was gone, after all. Tired, Kuu yawned, and wandered off to his bed to lay down. Moments later he was out like a light, fast asleep.

Evan just cringed and sighed and looked at the mess for a moment. With that he got his mop and got to work cleaning up the mess on the floor.

"Oi, Kuu, don't eat so much next time. Moderation is the key. Especially the first time you try it." He said, then realized Kuu, in fact, was out like a light, fast asleep. He should have guessed when the Ender was actually quiet – since the only time he was honestly quiet was when he was sleeping. Otherwise his soft vocalizations were nearly constant.

"On that note, I should be getting to sleep myself." Evan said to himself, before wandering to his room and pulling out his journal. He had been keeping track of his life with Kuu, lately. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity, he realized, to be up close and personal with an Enderman; especially one as friendly as Kuu was. And he figured people could learn a lot from his story someday. Or it could be a story to tell his kids, and grandkids, if he ever settled down and had them.

'Enderman vs. Snow. I think the snow won.' He wrote. 'They can handle snow, until it melts, at which point Kuu has now decided he hates snow.' He then wrote the story.  
'Also – note to self. Never give an Enderman too much cake.'


	5. Vyyr

_[Author's Note: Want to know what Vyyr looks like? PM me, and I can send you the picture. Apparently FF has something against posting a URL of the characters featured in a story, which is kinda irritating, to be honest. I have tried everything, including breaking the URL up with spaces but it keeps breaking it no matter what... What is the point of this? No clue. *sigh* Anyway, guess I will have to show people the HARD way. In a PM I can send you the stash link, and if that does not work I can give you my Skype, or you can give me your Email and I can send the image over. (Would be a link to a dA stash submission) Thanks! ]  
_

Winter, at least to Evan, felt as if it had been dragging on for entirely too long. Kuu was bored most of the time, stuck inside the house. He refused to go outside as long as there was snow on the ground and the snow was there all winter long in these parts. He had lost count of the times things had been re-arranged in his house.

Leanna came to visit frequently over the winter, since there wasn't much more for her to do. That and she liked spending time with Evan and his unusual friend. She took the time to help teach Kuu as much Common as she could. He was getting better; he could understand most of what was said by the humans if things were kept simple in wording. Though understanding him was still a bit of an issue. Evan still wished they could actually converse, though. He was sure Kuu had a lot of interesting things to say and good stories to tell.

As soon as the snow had melted and the ground had dried, Kuu had gone right outside. He had clearly missed it, and felt pent up from all that time cooped up indoors. He instantly took off running, stretching out his legs. He came back not too long later, holding a stone that sparkled with quartz crystals. His "brrr-rukk" sound shows his clear pleasure as he set it down, then was off again. Evan admired the stone for a moment.

He decided to head off to his mine; it was finally warm enough to get some work done. He had found a nice vein of gold before winter set in. He knew Kuu would find him. He had a feeling the Enderman had a heightened sense of smell. Ever since the whole thing with the cake, Kuu had developed an insufferable sweet tooth. And he flat out could not hide any sweets from Kuu. No matter where he put them the Enderman always found them. He had made a game of it over the winter, hiding them in various places so Kuu had something OTHER then re-decorating to do. Kuu also got incredibly curious about anything Evan ate. Sometimes, this was not a good thing. Well, not good for Kuu, at any rate.

A bad run-in with spicy food had had Kuu howling in pain and trying to wipe his tongue off with his hands then staring at Evan like he was crazy with his tongue hanging out as he panted. Evan had tried not to laugh. Tried so hard his face had turned red before he doubled over in a laughing fit that just kept going every time he looked up to see Kuu trying to look sulky and panting with his tongue hanging out at the same time. Even remembering it he had to laugh.

He chuckled at the memory as he put some gold ore in his cart. Sometimes he swore having Kuu around was like having a puppy. He always seemed to be so good at getting himself into some sort of trouble.

Evan worked for a few hours, before heading back to the house pulling his cart. Nights were still nippy and cold even if the days were getting warmer.

Seeing a shadow moving near him, he looked up at who he thought was Kuu. He stiffened, finding himself staring into the eyes of an Enderman that was not, in fact, Kuu. This one was taller, he noticed. Taller, and covered in scars. It looked like its face had been clawed by some sort of beast which had, fortunately for the Ender, missed its eyes. Its shoulders were both scarred, as well as its hips and legs. Its right leg looked a bit disjointed, as if it had suffered a bad break. The most notable scars, though, were those around its chest, and near its crotch. It looked like it had been bitten by an incredibly massive beast. It wore a necklace made of fine silver chain, with two green Ender Pearls attached. One was quite large, and the other about half the size of the first one.

Chest tightening and heart beating in panic, Evan stepped back. He remembered what happened LAST time he had accidentally looked at an Enderman other then Kuu. Kuu had saved his life in a vicious battle that had had some unexpected results, but Kuu wasn't here at the moment. He was off gods knew where letting out a winter's worth of pent up energy.

Evan noticed, though, that this one did not appear aggressive. It was just looking back at him calmly. Its stance was cautious, as if it was ready to teleport away. Then he heard a teleport, followed by Kuu's growl, as Kuu placed himself between them. His stance was clearly defensive, the growl a warning sound, not an attack scream.

The strange Enderman did not growl back, just looked mildly surprised. Kuu seemed to relax quickly. The strange newcomer cooed and chirped softly, followed by Kuu. The sounds went back and forth between them. Evan realized that the two were conversing. He heard Kuu's Enderspeak attempt at his name once, then repeated by the taller one questioningly before both looked at him. There was a nod and more cooing, chirping, and chirring from Kuu. After a moment, the conversation ceased and the taller one seemed quite pleased, looking towards Evan with a small nod.

Evan finally started to relax, letting out a breath he did not realize he had been holding as what could have been a VERY bad situation turned out a whole lot better then expected. Kuu seemed excited. His eyes bright, he went over to Evan, then looked back at the newcomer.

"Is this one... male? Or female?" Evan finally asked.

'Male' Kuu said, instantly.

"He seems calm" Evan mused.

'Old.' Kuu said simply.

Evan had to laugh at his response. "Old, hm? He doesn't look it." He looked at the other more clearly. He looked youthful other then his scars, and his quiet, calm demeanor. Evan found himself comparing this older Ender male to an old, proud soldier. He carried himself with his head high with a quiet pride; the air of one who had lived through a lot, but retained their true nature. He found himself getting more and more curious about this Enderman.

He saw the Enderman take a step towards him, reaching out a hand in a gesture. "Vyyr" it seemed to be saying.

"Your... name?" Evan asked, not sure if he could understand him. The new Enderman, to his surprise , appeared to understand him perfectly. He nodded and repeated the name.

"So you are.. Vyyr..." Evan mused. "It almost sounds like a purr." He smiled. He heard the familiar ender chuckle. Vyyr seemed amused by this observation.

Evan gently shook the outstretched hand, noting that three claws were completely missing. He stared down at the hand for a moment. "What happened here?" He wondered. He looked down to notice one claw on the foot of his right leg missing as well.

Vyyr let out a quiet sound. He wished he could tell him, but he was sure that most of his speech would go misunderstood.

He had seen Kuu and Evan understood eachother to a point, so he spoke simply. 'I go, with you. Home. Then talk.' He moved his finger on his hand in a writing motion. This startled Evan even more.

"You can write?" He asked, shocked.

Vyyr nodded. 'Yes.'

"Can you understand everything I say?" Evan asked, even more surprised.

'Yes.' Vyyr said once again.

"Wow..." Evan breathed out. "Ah... come along. I'd offer cookies but Kuu ate them all... uh... I wish I could be a better host."

Vyyr let out a soft laugh. He didn't mind. He moved softly, following Evan back to his home. Evan noticed that his steps were uneven. He limped. Probably because of that leg that looked like it had been broken badly in the past. Evan noticed Vyyr's steps slowing after a bit.

He looked back to see that Vyyr had paused, and was hunched over for a moment. He appeared to be in pain.

"Are you..."

Vyyr put up a hand, signifying he was allright. He'd dealt with these pains for a very long time; it would pass. After a few moments Vyyr straightened up again. He winced, but kept walking. The walk home was rather slow, but Evan didn't mind. It was a nice evening. Kuu stayed with them, both protective of Evan, and curious about Vyyr. It was nice to socialize with another of his kind. He adored Evan, but he couldn't really... speak and converse with Evan the way he could with one of his own kind.

Once inside, Evan went into his room and dug around until he found a pad of paper and a quill pen. He took a bottle of ink as well, and brought it over to Vyyr. "I hope I understood you well enough and did not misunderstand you..." Evan said, placing the three items down on a table.

Vyyr just nodded a bit before carefully taking the notepad in his clawed hand, then carefully dipping the pen in the ink. He wrote carefully 'I am known as Vyyr, as you know. I learn to speak, and read, human. I learn to write."

"Why?" Evan asked, curiously. It was so strange to watch Vyyr write. And it seemed the missing claws on his right hand really helped; were out of the way when he wrote where they would have been troublesome otherwise. He almost wondered if Vyyr removed them on purpose, but the scar on his hand almost seemed like something had broken them off. Maybe whatever left all those other scars on the old Enderman.

'Human and Ender not understand other.' Vyyr wrote. 'Ender fear human. Human fear Ender. Many deaths. Want stop deaths.'

"So... You learned to understand us...?" Evan asked him.

'Yes.' He spoke this in Ender, since Evan knew some Enderspeak from spending time with Kuu.

"And you want to make peace? Is this why you were so happy to see Kuu and I together?" Evan asked.

'Yes' Vyyr wrote. 'Too many Ender die, from dragon. Ender become rare. Ender fear human. Fight to protect self. Too many human die, then kill Ender. Human think Ender monster. Fight, kill, not needed. I learn, I make peace. No more death.'

Evan was silent as he read what Vyyr wrote. He was stunned. The Endermen... feared the humans? In a way he had had that feeling. Endermen rarely fought to kill. This was true. "Dragon?" Evan glanced at the scars on the old Enderman's body. "Is that where your scars came from?" At length, he asked "Are... Endermen as afraid of humans, as humans are afraid of them?"

'Yes. I fight dragon. Protect friend. Leave End, come here. Here home now.' He said. 'live here long time.' Vyyr paused, then nodded. 'Yes. Ender find human scary. They are danger, in world of danger. Overworld new. Scary, strange. Like human Ender attack what scare them."

Evan nodded at that. Honestly, it made a LOT of sense. What did humans do, when faced with something new, and scary? They went for their weapons. Were the Endermen so different? They went for their weapons as well... Their fangs, their claws.

"How did you learn how to write?" Evan asked, curious.

Vyyr paused at length, then shrugged. It was too much to explain through writing. At least for the moment. He was sore today, so he needed to take it easy. 'much work and long time.' He finally wrote. Evan found that to be a satisfactory answer and nodded.

"I noticed you were limping. Are you all right?" He asked him.

'Sore. Old wound. Dragon break leg, hurt back. Almost die.' Vyyr wrote carefully. His hand writing was very clear and careful, despite his two remaining claws on his right hand getting in the way.

Evan had so many questions, but he didn't want to overwhealm the patient old Enderman with a thousand questions. So he held his tongue. Instead, he decided to look and see if there were any sweets Kuu didn't eat yet. Fortunately, he found a couple cookies left in his pantry. He brought them to Vyyr, who thanked him and ate them quietly. He seemed to like them. Evan wondered if all Endermen liked sweets.

Kuu had been watching the whole time, curious about Vyyr's ability to write. He was also getting a bit excited. Vyyr obviously understood human speech clearly; Maybe he could teach him so he could understand Evan better. Maybe even teach Evan fully how to understand their language! He really wanted to actually converse with Evan, instead of confusing gestures, expressions, and what words the two of them knew of eachother's languages. Evan couldn't help but notice the excited, and happy mood of his friend.

'Kuu'Ruhrr told me you save life.' Vyyr wrote after a moment, looking to Evan.

"I.. I did." Evan nodded. "I was... I was really scared at first, you know. There are a lot of frightening stories about Endermen. He came into my house wounded from the rain, and I … well, I had to help him." Kuu'Ruhrr? He thought. Was that his full name? He figured he would just keep calling him Kuu. He'd been calling him that for almost a year now.

Vyyr nodded in approval. The room was quiet other then the soft vocalizations of the two Endermen and the crackling and popping of the fire in the fireplace. Vyyr's sounds calm and serene, Kuu's excited and happy.

"Kuu seems to like you." Evan said after a moment.

'He is happy.' Vyyr wrote and smiled. Even with his sharp teeth half shown, there was something gentle and tender about his smile. 'He wants talk to you. He know I can teach him. Help him speak to you and you speak to him.'

That rendered Evan speechless for a moment. 'You can teach us to understand eachother?" He asked, at length.

'Yes.' Vyyr said softly.

Evan just smiled at that thought. "Wow!" He breathed out. He looked at Kuu and smiled, eyes shining. The thought of that made him truly happy. Kuu was the best friend he had, now. Loyal, gentle, kind... Albiet a bit troublesome at times. Kuu seemed to share the excitement.

'It will take much work.' Vyyr wrote. 'Much time.'

"Oh that is perfectly fine!" Evan said. "I am willing to put as much time and work into it as needed."

Kuu's happy purrs showed that he agreed. Vyyr smiled. 'Good.' He wrote.

He stood. 'I will go home but return morning.' He said. Between the words Evan knew, and the gestures Vyyr made Evan understood him clearly.

But he didn't manage to straighten fully before he let out a sharp sound of pain. He hunched over for several long moments, his back in searing agony. He panted and tried to take a step, but his legs locked up on him and he stumbled. It was almost as if his legs just decided they didn't want to work. He carefully tried to take another step, but his leg only moved an inch or so off the ground. Just enough to set the older Enderman off balance. He crumpled to the ground with a grunt of pain.


	6. Sharing Memories

Kuu was the first to rush to Vyyr's side, crouching down in concern. He tried to help Vyyr up, but his legs stayed locked up.

"What happened?" Evan asked. "Kuu, we need to get him to bed." He motioned towards the bed. That was better to lay on then the floor.

Kuu understood, and quickly picked the taller Enderman up before carefully carrying him to his bed; he didn't need it at the moment anyway. Kuu was not tired and Vyyr was clearly injured.

Once laying down, Evan started to check him over. He was by no means any expert on Ender anatomy, but they seemed similar to humans and he'd dealt with his own injuries a few times. Vyyr patiently stayed still while Evan checked him over.

The first thing he noticed was one of the scars on Vyyr's back, one of the tooth marks. It was swollen and hot to the touch, and when he touched it Vyyr hissed in pain. That seemed to be the source of it. He didn't risk touching it again. Vyyr seemed very patient with it all, but there was no telling when the pain would become too much, and he didn't want to get on the wrong side of what claws the elder had left. He had a feeling that there was something behind that scar causing the Enderman's pain.

"Are you going to be allright?" Evan asked, concerned.

Vyyr nodded. He motioned towards the paper again, which Evan brought to him. 'Old wound.' He wrote. 'Sometimes gets worse, bad pain. But it pass.'

"Are you sure? Sometimes old wounds are worse then they seem." Evan said. "And if it has hurt this long without healing, I think you might have something... embedded under that scar on your back."

'You may check.' Vyyr wrote. 'Hurt, but know you not mean to make hurt.'

Evan nodded. Feeling a bit nervous about it, he once again gently felt around the scar. A few times he felt Vyyr jerk a bit with a hiss of pain, but the Enderman showed no signs of attacking. But he finally thought he felt it. Something hard just under the skin. It seemed the skin had scarred and healed over whatever was underneath. And the worst part was that was right where his spine was. Whatever it was was embedded in his spine... Vyyr was very fortunate.

"Do you get... stiff, like this, every time?" Evan questioned.

'Sometimes.' Vyyr wrote. 'Legs not work. I try to move leg but leg not move.'

Evan frowned in even more concern. "I think you have the fang of the dragon embedded in your spine." He said, after a moment. "And if we don't get that out, it could cause permanent damage. I don't think I can do it myself but..." He ran a hand through his hair. "It needs to be done. I would talk to the town's doctor, but I am not exactly sure what he would think of... you. No offense but... well..."

'Yes, I know. Ender. Human fear me.' Vyyr wrote. 'What do you plan to do?'

"I'll... see what Leanna has to say." Evan said, scratching his chin a bit. "She might have some ideas." At the questioning look from Vyyr, Evan continued, "Leanna is a good friend of mine. She lives in the nearby settlement and may be able to tell me if the doctor would be willing to treat you."

Vyyr nodded. He actually looked hopeful. He liked the idea of having all that pain gone. For good. While it didn't ALWAYS hurt, these flareups were never pleasant.

'If healed, pain go away?' Vyyr wrote. He looked at Evan questioningly.

"I would think so." Evan nodded. "If the problem is caused by the fang embedded in your back, then removing it should allow you to heal properly. I know one thing for sure, your kind heal faster and are a lot more resilient then humans are."

Vyyr nodded. 'It be nice, to not hurt.' He wrote. 'lived with it long time.' He wouldn't say HOW long; Endermen didn't view time the same way humans did.

"You should get some rest." Evan said.

Vyyr nodded a bit before he closed his eyes. He was soon asleep. Evan went to the livingroom with Kuu while the elder Ender slept.

"I think he'll be fine." Evan said. "He's resting now."

Kuu let out a soft sound, before sitting next to Evan. Evan decided to get one of the picture books and do more practicing on language and understanding eachother. It was about three hours before Vyyr woke. As he woke, he shifted, but didn't try getting up yet. He would need a little more time before he could move around again.

Evan heard Vyyr calling Kuu from his room. Kuu stood, headed into his bedroom. Once inside, he stood beside the bed, looking down at Vyyr.

'You want to speak with Evan, right?' Vyyr asked Kuu.

'I do. Very much.' Kuu replied. 'But it is hard to learn.'

'There is another way.' Vyyr said. That caught Kuu's attention.

'What do you mean?' He asked.

'Our kind have the ability to... share memories.' Vyyr said. 'Through your Heartstone.'

'… How?' Kuu looked a bit mystified at that, but also very curious.

'I will teach you. You want Evan to know more about you, right?' Vyyr asked.

'I do.' Kuu said. 'He saved my life, gave me a home, and is a good friend to me.'

'You share a very special bond with him.' Vyyr observed with a nod. 'I do not think humans can do this, but we can. Come closer.' Vyyr said. Kuu crouched down beside the bed. 'You know where your Heartstone is, right?'

'Of course I do.' Kuu nodded. He touched his chest.

Vyyr carefully took the younger Ender's hand, and placed it on his chest. 'It is about the memories you have made in your life; about bringing them up, and letting him see them.'

As Vyyr did this, Kuu saw brief flickers of Vyyr's life – from his time in the Darkrealm, to the arrival of the dragon, to leaving and entering the Overworld, and flickers of his experiences there.

Kuu pulled back, surprised. 'You were there when the Dragon took over!?' He asked.

'I was.' Vyyr said.

'My story is not nearly as interesting a yours.' Kuu said.

'To Evan, your human friend, it will be.' Vyyr said. 'Bring Evan in here.'

Kuu nodded, before going into the livingroom to get Evan, who had been sitting on the couch listening to the two converse. He hadn't understood much at all of what they had said, but he could tell they had been talking.

'Vyyr say come.' Kuu said in the words Evan understood, before tugging at Evan's hand. Evan stood and followed him in. Vyyr motioned for both to come closer.

'Remember what I told you, Kuu. Focus on the memories you want to share, and he will see them.' Vyyr said.

Kuu nodded, before looking at Evan. He crouched down to get more on his level and gently took his hand. He glanced towards Vyyr again, then placed it on his chest. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. Evan looked a bit surprised, but went with it.

'Close eyes.' Vyyr told Evan. The human nodded and did so.

At first, everything was fogged. His hand felt very warm, almost tingling.

'Focus.' Vyyr said. After that, things started to get more clear. Evan realized that he was seeing something in his mind's eye. He let it happen, having a feeling something very special was about to happen.

_There were tall, dark figures everywhere, most of them standing still, or walking slowly. The ground was colorless and grey, made of a strange stone that was not damaged by the claws of the Shadowed Ones. The sky black, and colorless. There were islands of this strange, floating stone, as far as he could see. What little light there was was dull and gray. He was picked up. A child, he realized. He was seeing things through the eyes of a child. Carried. A sense of curiosity, and building fear. Something was wrong, very wrong. He was held up, and a face appeared. A terrifying face surrounded by spikes, huge, with vicious, gleaming violet eyes. The mouth opened, showing gleaming white teeth and released a roar. A roar that smelled of death, terror, and pain. He was overwhelmed with terror, squirming. Too scared to even make a sound. He made feeble attempts to escape, but the one holding onto him wouldn't let go and was much stronger. The Dragon's mouth closed and sulfurous air huffed out from its nostrils. Eyes flicked towards the adult Shadowed One holding the child, before its mouth opened once again in a snarl. The adult hesitated. There was fear there, he could smell it. He turned around, and sank his fangs into the hand as hard as he could, small body shaking like a leaf. The adult dropped him with a scream of rage and pain, shaking her now bleeding hand as he fled. Ran as fast as he could. But the adult did not go after him. The dragon snapped at her, and she leapt back and teleported away as fast as she could. Too focused on escaping the rage of the dragon then going after the child that had bitten her._

_He found somewhere to hide, a small hole in the strange stone that most of his kind could not fit in and watched in horror as the dragon went into a rage, snapping up and eating several from his family. Those that survived turned accusing eyes on him. They blamed him. Especially the female with the bitten hand. _

_The blame continued. He grew up hated, and outcasted. Picked on incessantly. Sometimes, he tried to leave, to join those who stood against the dragon – but they rejected him for being born to those who served it. Those who served it rejected him for being the one to bring on its wrath. _

_The turmoil was terrible, constant fights breaking out between the rival factions. Many of the Shadowed Ones were dying in these vicious battle and those wounded were quickly snapped up by the dragon if they didn't escape on time. He stayed in hiding, as much as he could. But he seemed to always be found, dragged out, and blamed. Most of the time he managed to struggle free of their grasps and run away. But this time was different. The scar-handed female was accompanied by a tall, fearsome male, and another tall female._

_'You brought the wrath of the dragon on us! You will appease it!' She said fiercely. 'You will not get away this time!'_

_Nearly adult now, he was dragged to the dragon, kicking and struggling, fear building. The dragon was more terrifying then the other Shadowed Ones. He was now brought to the dragon's very lair where it lay upon a vast pile of Heartstones. He felt sick just looking at it, the way the dragon used the Heartstones of their fallen people as something to be trampled under foot and layed upon. And he had a horrible, sinking feeling his was about to join the rest of them. The dragon lifted its head and stared at him, then opened its mouth and moved closer. He smelled its breath huffing over his body._

_A rush of adrenaline. A scream. Hard scales against sharp claws. Hot blood spurting onto his hand. A screech of rage from the dragon, head jerking back with its nose bleeding. A snap of teeth his sharp teeth, a scream of rage from one of the three Shadowed Ones holding him. Another snap of teeth and slash of claws. Bleeding, the three other Shadowed Ones had let go, giving him the opportunity he had been waiting for. He was free... He started to run. The dragon rushed at him in rage. _

_An energy well.. He saw it, sensed it. He had to get there. A rift... from there he could teleport to the Overworld... He could escape this place for good. A huge paw smacked him and sent him flying, but he teleported before sharp fangs snapped into his flesh. His heart hammered in his chest, fear aiding him in his desperate bid for survival. Close... So close... The enraged roar of the dragon filled him with even more terror and speed. He teleported again just in time, the dragon's teeth snapping shut where he had been a moment before. The creature roared in rage and frustration at missing its prey once again. Almost there... He closed his eyes for a moment and leapt, hitting the rift with a gasp. He felt the dragon's fiery breath, but only faintly._

_Everything spun. Dizzying, confusing. Not like a normal teleport, this was... exhausting. Probably would have been moreso had it not been aided by the rift. He didn't know how to teleport to the Overworld on his own yet, but he knew the rifts could take you there. Finally, that terrible dizzying sensation wore off, leaving him laying exhausted on the ground, eyes closed. For several moments he just rested, before he opened his eyes._

_Everything... changed. An explosion of light, too much light, that burned his eyes. So he closed them again. Energy and warmth buzzing all around him. More energy the he had ever felt around him all at one time. It made his entire body tingle, and for once he felt as if he was getting well fed. He lay there for some time, just taking in all the energy he could. Expecting the light this time, he opened his eyes. There were so many colors, so many new feelings. The grass beneath him, soft and cool; the sky above, intense blue. He had only heard talk of this place, but to actually see it was something... amazing. He just gazed. Even though the intense light burned his eyes and hurt, he didn't want to take his eyes off of the spectacle around him. He stood, walking slowly. The rough bark of the trees against his fingertips. The bright, green leaves, bright red berries. Fluffy, white things floating against that brilliant blue sky. Shining blue before him, letting out this pleasant, soft trickling sound. _

_But he knew not to touch it; he had heard of water. He had heard it talked about, a painful, burning substance on the Overworld that could kill an Ender like him quickly. He was surprised that something so deadly was so beautiful. He watched it for a few moments, before he walked away from it. He started to wander. No particular goal in mind; just to get... somewhere, he supposed. Now that he was here, he didn't know what to do._

_He liked it here, very much, but after a while, things got lonely. Very lonely. Even back among his own people he wasn't... completely alone, even if he was outcasted and hated for defending himself as a child. He found himself pining for the company of another. There were various creatures that he found, but they all ran away if he got close. He was starting to realize that he was scary, here in these parts. He had heard the dwellers of this land were very, very dangerous; but so far they all just ran away from him._

_That was when he had heard something, saw something. A very strange something. Not like the other creatures he had encountered. This one was similar to him, but smaller. It was not black, though seemed to have black on its head. Scent told him this one was male. Afraid, but curious, he hid. He tried to stay quiet, but silence was unnatural to him, and the creature, the human, he realized they were called, heard him. He caught a glimpse of blue eyes, and was filled with fear as the creature looked at him. He let out a long cry, and ran away. The human, scared as well, fled back to its home. Home... He wished he had one. Somewhere safe. With somebody he could trust, and feel comfortable with. _

_The human intrigued him. It was so much like him, really – there were a lot of differences, but a lot of similarities as well. His curiosity continued, to the point that he found himself following the human whenever he saw him. Observing him, watching him. Trying to learn more about him. But too afraid to actually approach him. That, and the human often held his weapon when he was near. Humans did not have claws, so they made their own 'claws'; weapons that could do great damage if you stuck around._

_To show he meant no harm, he started bringing the interesting things he found, and setting them before his door, but when the human came out, he was still too afraid to approach it. He had spent most of his life hiding... he was used to it. He even attacked one of the dangerous undead that wanted a piece of the human's flesh but the human got the wrong idea and ran away in terror._

_Over time, the human seemed less nervous about him. Still afraid, but seeming a little curious as well. _

_Then came that day. The sky was dark, he realized. Not usual when the sun was up. The sky was usually bright blue, not dark grey. Something felt... off. Smelled wrong in the air. This set him on edge. Then there was blinding flash of light and a loud, shattering boom. Suddenly panicking, he looked around. Had the dragon followed him? That sound... came roaring from the sky._

_Then, a drop of agonizing, burning water hit his skin. He screamed. Then several more. Gasping, he teleported, to get away. But it was all around him. No matter where he went, those horrible drops hit him. _

_No matter where he went they burned him, hurt him, made him feel weak and exhausted. Made blood run down his skin. This place... Water fell from the sky! He couldn't believe it... All this struggle, escaping the dragon, only to die like this! Before he realized it, he was... somewhere dry. He had unconsciously teleported into the home of the human. _

_Overcome by pain, he collapsed, panting heavily. The human... It was looking right at him... His mind overcome with fear, he screamed, mouth open and showing all his teeth. He was sure he was going to die. Bleeding, injured... laying helpless on the floor before the human. The scream died off and he panted and keened. The human did not attack. Then everything faded to black. He lost the strength to keep his eyes open, and collapsed to his side._

_But when he woke up... He was on something soft. His wounds, cleaned, the worse ones bandaged. There was a flash of fear, but then he realized that the human had helped him. He couldn't help but express his thanks in sounds that came as naturally as breathing to him. _

_The human kept trying to speak to him, but he couldn't understand a word he said. But being with something that COULD speak was nice. It tried to offer him food, but he turned it down. No... He didn't need to eat. So why do it? He felt it was a waste. _

_Then came the introduction. The sharing of names. Ee-faan, the human said he was called. Such a strange name really. The human called him something odd in his own tongue, but it was close enough, so he accepted it. _

_Then the human seemed to invite him to stay. He couldn't tell exactly, but... His body language, his hand motions, even the sound of his voice said it clearly. He was offering him... a home. _

_The one thing he had always wanted. A home... and a friend. A warm feeling, a happy feeling overwhelmed him. And, of course, he accepted the offer._

Evan felt the dreamlike vision fade away as he opened his eyes, feeling dizzy and disoriented. "What..." he whispered, before looking at Kuu. Kuu was looking back at him, still holding his hand gently.

"That was... that was your history, wasn't it?" He whispered. Vyyr translated. Kuu nodded. He spoke, and Vyyr wrote what he said.

'It was. I wanted speak, but could not. Vyyr show me other way to tell my story.'

Evan just nodded, before giving his friend a tight hug. Kuu seemed slightly surprised at first, but then returned it. His grip was very strong, but also very gentle. The man almost felt moved to tears over the whole thing, but didn't let any go. Kuu had been through so much, and now he was here, he was alive. And most importantly, happy. Finally, Evan cleared his throat a bit and pulled out of the hug, blushing a bit. But Kuu didn't seem to mind. He just smiled, before looking to Vyyr and giving an honest thanks. He felt like they understood each other much better now.


	7. A Plan

_Author's Note: This chapter is mostly about character building and such; but hang with me! The real action is starting soon! _

The problem that presented itself before Even was, honestly, a very hard one. He wasn't sure he could remove the dragon's fang he was sure was embedded in the elder Enderman's back. But it was clearly causing some distress to him. After the rest, he was able to get up and move around a bit, but was still clearly in pain. Evan had offered to let him stay for a bit, and Kuu had offered to share his bed if needed; but the fact still remained. That fang had to go.

Evan was still shocked that the Enderman's injury wasn't worse; and that he had regained mobility at all if that fang was actually damaging his spinal cord. He didn't know that much about anatomy – but he knew the spinal cord was important for moving, walking, and general mobility. And with spring showers and rainfall in the future... How would he get out of the rain with such an injury? He obviously had for a very, very long time; but it couldn't be easy. He wanted to make life easier for Vyyr. He was so gentle, and calm.

Kuu clearly wanted the same. He expressed his worry with quiet sounds and looks over at Vyyr. Evan and Kuu had gotten closer, since the sharing of memories. Evan had found his story fascinating... And he wanted to know more about it. He wondered if he could get Kuu to show him more memories, in more detail. But that could come later.

Evan sat beside the bed in thought, watching Vyyr, who was finally waking up from another nap. Endermen mostly slept, Evan noticed, when injured. He figured sleeping must have something to do with their regenerative abilities since Kuu, and Vyyr both, seemed to improve the fastest when they were asleep.

"I think I'll talk to Leanna." Evan decided, as Vyyr turned his glowing, lavender eyes towards him with a fang-baring yawn. "She knows about Kuu."

Vyyr nodded and reached for the paper and quill pen. 'She know about me?'

"I haven't told her about you, yet, but she's fond of Kuu; I am very sure she will like you as well." Evan said.

'Then go speak to her. She may have idea.' Vyyr wrote carefully. 'You don't have to do this.'

"I want to." Evan said. "This injury could get a lot worse. I don't want you to get permanently paralyzed."

Vyyr was not familiar with that word, so gave Evan a questioning look.

"Paralyzed; this is when you can't move anymore. When your legs stop working, you were temporarily paralyzed." Evan explained. "Before you went to sleep the first time. You seem to be doing a lot better now.

Vyyr nodded. 'I do. I not want perilise forever.' Vyyr wrote.

Evan noticed the misspelling, but didn't say anything of it. Vyyr had just heard the word; he didn't expect him to get it right the first time. "Neither do I. You're... a gentle soul. You deserve better then lifeling pain.

'Thank you.' Vyyr wrote, with a slight, staticy-sounding chuckle.

Evan just smiled a bit, before looking to Kuu. "Teleport me to the town?" He asked his friend.

Knowing exactly what he was asking, Kuu took his hand. Evan closed his eyes and braced himself. He was used to the teleportation by now, but even then he still had to bend over and shake off the dizziness that came afterwards. At least it didn't make him sick anymore. Kuu chirred softly and hid in the treeline as Evan walked over to the Trading Post. He pushed the door open with a soft ringing of the bell to announce his entry.

"Oh, welcome, Evan." The man behind the counter said. He was older, looking to be in his 50's or 60's. He had greying hair, shaggy and falling over his eyes, and was smooth-shaven. He had playful green eyes and laughter lines. He was a generally jovial and friendly man, though not to be mistaken for a weakling. He could be very fierce when he wanted to be and took no shit from anybody. He had muscular arms, but a bit of a gut. "What can I get for you?"

"Hey, Fredric. I was actually wondering where Leanna was." Evan said.

"Ah, she's in the back, helping out with my backstock." The Trader, Fredric he was called, said. "She talks about you a lot."

Evan blushed. "Really?" He asked.

"She sure does. You want me to call her up front?" Fredric asked.

"That'd be nice. I wanted to talk to her about something." Evan said.

"Oh really?" Fredric grinned mischievously.

Evan felt his face go a bit red at that.

"Hey, Leanna! Your boyfriend's here to see ya!" Fredric called. Evan blushed like mad and groaned, covering his forehead with a hand.

Leanna came out, smacking her father lightly on the back of his head. "Dad!" She said. "You're embarassing him." She approached Evan. "Hey, it's nice to see you."

"Nice to see you too. Mind stepping outside for a moment?" He asked. He looked towards Fredric, who was busily getting the shelves of his trading post straightened. He was, though, watching them out of the corner of his eyes with a rather playful grin

"Sure, what is on your mind?" Leanna asked, following him out the door. Evan looked around, and found nobody near enough to overhear them talking.

"The doctor of this town... what do you know of her?" Evan asked.

"Not too much." Leanna said, thoughtfully. "She's an herbalist and pretty old, starting to lose her sight but is still very skilled with her art. She's been training an apprentice to take her place."

"Do you know her thoughts on.. Endermen?" Evan asked. Leanna's face dropped.

"Oh no, what happened? Is Kuu allright?" She asked, instantly thinking something was wrong with their friend. She liked Kuu; He was adorable in his own strange way, and very sweet.

"No, he's fine. I found another Enderman." Evan said. "A lot older then Kuu. I have reason to believe he's got a dragon's fang in his back, that needs to be removed."

"I don't think I would risk telling Vivian about him." Leanna said. "She's a terrible gossip. Even if she herself is ok with treating an Enderman, the whole town would hear about it by next day. I know Kuu means no harm, but the rest of the town is not likely to feel the same." She thought for a moment. "I did work for her for a bit. I might be able to help you do it yourself."

Evan felt a little relieved at that. "Are you... sure?" He asked. "Do you think we can do this safely?"

"It's the only thing I can think of." She said.

"Oh..." Evan paused, rubbing the back of his head a bit. "I was wondering if... if when we are... done with Vyyr... If you wanted to go to the tavern for... a drink, or something." He felt like an idiot, being so awkward around her. But Evan had always been a bit socially awkward. Maybe it was why he got along so well with Kuu. Though Kuu wasn't so much socially awkward as he was just plain clueless. But he was learning,

"Are you finally asking me out?" Leanna grinned mischievously at him. "Yes, I'd love to."

Evan found his face growing hot again, but he smiled. So it was a date... he'd finally done it. FINALLY gotten up the nerve to ask her out. AND she had accepted! But now was not the time to dwell on that. There was a gentle and old Enderman back at his house that needed help.

Evan told her about Vyyr; as well as what he had learned of Kuu's backstory as Leanna followed Evan to the treeline. Kuu greeted them both happily, before teleporting them back home. Leanna staggered a bit, leaning on the wall to pant, but she recovered from the teleport quickly.

"So where is this other Enderman you told me about?" Leanna asked.

"He's in Kuu's room." Evan said.

"So you said he can understand us, and write?" Leanna questioned.

Evan nodded. "Yes, he can." He lead her over towards Vyyr. "His name is Vyyr." He exlained. "I don't know that much about him, but he's teaching Kuu and I to understand eachother better. Well, once his back is taken care of, anyway. Thing is, how do I remove it without causing him a lot of pain?"

"I do have an idea." Leanna said, after a moment of thought. "A friend of my father's. Well, sort of a friend... He trades with him sometimes. You know the moonshine you get at the Tavern?"

Evan nodded.

"Dad knows the man who makes it. I think if it's pure enough... with little enough water, the Enderman may be able to drink it without being hurt. The alcohol will numb him up. I know Mij makes strong enough stuff; he just doesn't sell it to the taverns." Leanna said. "Apparently, he says it's too strong and would be a liability, or something."

"Would he sell it to me?" Evan asked.

"I am pretty sure he would." Leanna said. "You'll want enough to get him pretty drunk. He won't feel it so much, especially if he passes out."

Evan nodded. "Getting stupidly drunk once is better then a lifetime of pain. I'll go and get some when I take you back home." He said. It was better to get this done sooner rather then later.

He and Leanna spent a few hours together before Kuu teleported them just outside of town. Evan walked her home; then headed outside of town; to the mysterious man that nobody knew much about, who apparently sold the strongest Moonshine in town.


	8. Moonshine

_[Author's Note: Mij is actually the somewhat cameo of one of my mates' characters – an adaptation of him for this story, with touches of his fursona, and minecraft character thrown in. This being said, enjoy! No, I am not accepting OC's, since this story is mostly planned out. He and I discussed this far before I got to this chapter. This also reveals a bit more of the technology level of this setting. There is some indoor plumbing, and mostly clockwork stuff powered by Redstone. Somewhat steampunkish, I suppose? Minecraft inspired, of course, but not exactly minecraft world. Like.. some features of Minecraft leaking into a fantasy world? xD I dunno. Semi-realism anyway. At any rate, Enjoy!]_

"So this is the place..." Evan said to himself. The place was two stories tall; and quite large. It looked a bit run down, but not unkempt. Just old. The first thing he noticed was the many sculptures of wolves. Mij, apparently, liked wolves. He also noticed a grey and white wolf-like dog trotting out to him with its tail low and head up. The collar had a gear on it, like a piece of steel clockwork. The next thing he noticed was various clockwork machinery. He didn't touch any of it; it most likely belonged to the man named Mij inside the house. He looked up to see a sign above the door. "Open. Come on in for some Moonshine" it read, obviously carved in by hand. There was a wolf's face carved at the top right corner. He noticed the wolfdog was following him, tail waving back and forth slowly. He didn't take too long to survey the yard, or his surroundings before he carefully pushed the door open. He looked around, before he saw the man behind a self-built counter. The inside of the house was wooden, old, but in a nice way.

"Ah A'vn't seen ya around here." A voice came. A bit gruff, but not unfriendly. "What can I git fer ya?"

Evan looked up, and blinked in surprised. The man was not what he expected. He wasn't too terribly tall, but appeared to be well muscled. A hard worker. He had a black goatee. He wore over his head and shoulders a grey wolf's pelt, with the fur on the top of the head spiked up into a mohawk and dyed green. His eyes were green, but strangely enough the whites of the eyes were not white; but rather black; giving his eyes a wolfish quality. The man had thick fingernails, almost clawlike, and he swore he saw sharp canines in his mouth when he spoke. The man's clothes were rather simple. A workshirt, black in color. It looked worn, with a few holes here and there. He wore sturdy work pants. They looked well-worn as well, with a hole in one of the knees.

He had a chain hanging out of his pocket; the chain to what appeared by shape to be a rather large pocket watch. He was busily cleaning out a glass.

"I was... coming for some strong Moonshine." Evan said, after a moment of silence. He realized that staring in silence was probably completely awkward of him, so he looked the other way with a muttered apology. The strangely wolfish man just let out a hearty laugh.

"I git that a lot." He said. He had a clear accent, though Evan couldn't quite place where it came from. "The Townsfolks telling ya stories 'bout me?"

"Not really... erm... you know Trader Fredric, right?" Evan asked.

"Yup, ah do. He comes 'ere for 'shine sometimes. Did 'e send ya 'ere?" Mij questioned.

"His daughter did, actually. She said this was the place to get the strongest shine in town."

"Not just in town, boy." Mij winked one strange green eye. "I aint never had 'shine as strong as mine. So what are ya looking fer?"

"Something... really strong. But smooth." He said. "Preferably something more on the sweet side."

"Wall Ah'v got several varieties to choose from." Mij said pleasantly. "Ah'v got this strawburry stuff, new recipe. Ah cin send you home with a few samples, if yer wantin'"

"I'm gonna need quite a bit." Evan said. "I've... got a few friends over and we're looking to get pretty wasted." It was a lie, he knew; but it was the closest he was willing to say. He wasn't about to reveal the REAL reason he wanted the moonshine.

But, it seemed, the reason was going to reveal itself. He heard the familiar "Vwoomp" of a teleport behind him, and Kuu's familiar questioning "Prrdh"

He saw Mij stiffen up instantly and grab his pickaxe – it was the closest thing he could find. "Whatever ya do, don't look behind ya!" Mij warned. His voice had turned more growl-like, and Evan swore his claw-like fingernails looked... even more like claws now, and his canines looked sharper.

Evan groaned a bit. "Kuu!" He said, which caught Mij completely off guard. "What... Why... What are you doing in here!?" He turned right around to face his friend. This only made Mij's eyes widen even more. Though he let out a strange, almost wolf-like growl and narrowed his eyes.

Kuu, though, just looked confused. He was looking at Mij like he hadn't expected him to be there at all.

"What did I tell ya!" Mij said. "Don't look at it!"

"Him." Evan corrected. "He's... a friend."

'Not smell human!' Kuu chirred defensively.

"What do you mean not smell human!?" Evan asked Kuu.

Kuu just pointed at Mij. 'Not smell like human!' He chirred again.

"A friend!?" Mij asked. "How in the Nether is 'e yer friend!? That's one o' those shadowy Endermen! Monsters that'l kill ya as soon as look at ya!"

"He won't hurt you." Evan said again, before turning around and looking Kuu right in the eyes to prove a point. Kuu just chirred pleasantly and patted Evan on the head, before turning to stare at Mij again. Mij did notice, though – that the Enderman was not attacking.

And Evan noticed that Mij did not question the whole "Not smelling like a human" thing. That was... terribly odd. Unless he hadn't been paying attention. Kuu always stayed out of sight when he was making dealings in town but if there was no scent to tell him there was another human around... It had to have confused him.

"Kuu... What does he smell like?" He finally asked.

'Smell like wolf.' Kuu replied.

"Like a wolf?" Evan frowned. "Maybe you are smelling his pet? Or his pelt?" he glanced at Mij.

'No human smell. I smell if human.' Kuu insisted.

Mij was just watching them. Guarded, but he had put his pickaxe down. "Ah'v bin havin' trouble with one o' them Endermen lately." He said, after a moment. "'As a scar on its hand, lik'n it got bit right good. Seems to be lookin' fer somethin'"

Evan stiffened at that. Scar on the hand? He looked at Kuu, almost glad he couldn't understand everything that was being said. Instead, he was looking around curiously; there were a lot of interesting items in the shop. All sorts of clock-work like items, that appeared to be running off of Redstone. Evan used redstone for some things but he wasn't that good with the stuff. If used properly it could be made into lamps. But this strange man seemed to have all sorts of uses for the stuff.

"A … scar? On its hand?" He asked. "Which hand?"

"Tha left one. Why ya asking?"

"Just curious!" Evan said quickly. "Any... other scars?" He asked. It couldn't be the one... His head was spinning at the thought. If that WAS the scar-handed one from his visions shared with Kuu... He didn't even want to think about it.

"Ah didn't take much time ta get a good look at it!" Mij said. Evan nodded a bit.

"That does make my request a little... easier." Evan said, after a moment. "I'm wanting something that he can drink, that won't hurt him."

"So yer lookin' for th' pure stuff, then. As little water as there cin be." Mij said. "Ah'v got that in flavors."

He nodded. "I'd like a pretty big bottle of the stuff." he said. "And I do have the gold coins to pay for it."

"Ya lookin' to get drunk with yer buddy?" Mij asked.

"Something like that." Evan said.

"That be somethin' I'd pay to see." Mij grinned, showing his strange, sharp canine teeth. "I tell you wot. I'll give it to ya for half tha price, if ya let me come 'ome with ya, and watch."

Evan hesitated. "Erm..."

"What ya hesitatin' fer? I promise ah won't tell anybody." Mij said.

"He's... not the only one." Evan finally said. "There's another, back at my house. He's the one I'm getting this for. He's... got something embedded in his back. I want to numb him up enough to remove it without too much pain."

"One a those big bottles is enough fer both of them." Mij insisted. He got out a sizable bottle of clear reddish liquid. Probably reddish from the strawberry flavor he put in it. It looked like it would hold a good two liters of the potent liquid.

This was probably not the best idea in the world... But Evan did like the idea of saving a bit of coin on the moonshine, and while eccentric Mij seemed honest enough. "Allright..." Evan finally said. "I plan on getting it done tonight... and teleporting home."

"Teleportin'!" Mij said in surprise.

Evan motioned towards Kuu. "He's able to teleport more then just himself."

"Sounds like a deal." The wolfish man grinned. "'Aight, that'll be 20 gold." The price was normally 40. Expensive; but this stuff took a lot of time, and effort, to make right. So half-price was worth it. Evan counted out the coins and handed them over. Mij slid the bottle, as well as a few small sample-size bottles of different flavors, over the counter.

"Let me feed my dog." Mij said. "Then we can go."

Mij fed his wolfish dog, before going over to Evan. He grinned again. "Looks like ya got yerself a frienderman." He commented.

Evan just blinked a little. "... Frienderman?" he asked, looking towards Kuu. He had to admit – the word pretty amusing. "Yeah, you could call him that." He said, chuckling a bit. He nodded to Kuu.

"Teleport us both home?" He asked him. To Mij, he said "Prepare yourself. Teleporting is... dizzying and disorienting. The bathroom is down the hall if it upsets your stomach too much." Mij felt one clawed hand on his shoulder, before all three of them were sucked into a dizzying vortex. The sound of the teleport was the same, though there was a constant whooshing and buzzing the entire time. It almost seemed like they were going incredibly fast, streaking over the landscape, but floating at the same time. It was all over very quickly as the 'woomp' sounded once again – and they found themselves in Evan's livingroom.

"Whooooo!" Mij shouted, then broke into laughter. Then he fell over backwards and lay on the floor for a few moments. "Wow that is somethin'! I need to get me one a those Friendermen!" He grinned.

"Kuu, can you go get Leanna?" Evan asked Kuu. Kuu knew what he was asking, and nodded. They had decided where to meet before; She had gone home to get the supplies she needed to help him remove the dragon fang. Kuu vanished with a teleport, and about 15 minutes later re-appearaed with Leanna in tow. Leanna staggered for a few steps, then set her pack down.

"I told Dad I am staying for the night." She said. "So he won't worry."

"Allright." Evan nodded. "We have... an unexpected guest." He motioned towards Mij.

"What..." Leanna said. "You told him?"

"I didn't tell him. Kuu decided he 'Didn't smell like a human' and teleported into his shop while we were talking." He said, scratching the back of his head. "And he said he'd give it to me for half off, if he could come along and watch Kuu here get drunk."

"Well... That does sound like something Mij would do." Leanna said.

"He also promised not to tell anybody." Evan said.

"That's good. He's a man of his word." Leanna said. "Dad says so anyway. There's a lot of gossip that goes around town about him, but he's never done anything suspicious."

He looked over to see that Vyyr had moved from the bed and was sitting in front of the fire, soaking in the warmth like Kuu often did. He seemed very fond of the fire.

"Mij, that is Vyyr." he said. "The other Enderman."

"The one ya got the 'Shine fer." Mij confirmed with a nod.

"Vyyr, I am going to try to remove that dragon's fang tonight, and I got something to help with the pain." Evan told Vyyr. "Well.. as much help as I can give you myself..."

Vyyr was no alien to alcohol. He'd had it a few times himself, of course only the really strong stuff. The alcohol seemed to negate most of the burning effect of any water that was still in there.

"Are you able to drink it?" he asked. Vyyr nodded. Leanna went and got some glasses from the kitchen area, and brought them back. Evan poured a glass for Vyyr, and one for Kuu. Vyyr drank it down without hesitation; he understood what they were doing. And he knew it wouldn't hurt him. Leanna gave him a second glass.

Kuu, on the other hand, looked a bit suspicious about the liquid. Last time he'd touched something in one of Evan's cups, it had hurt. But he noticed Vyyr was able to drink it without a problem. It tingled, a LOT, and burned going down; but did no harm to the older Enderman. Curious, Kuu poked a claw in it and licked it off. He made a bit of a face, staring at his claw, then the liquid. But he tried it again. He poked his finger in fully, and found that it did not hurt at all. He slowly took a sip of the liquid, before pulling back and coughing a bit. His tongue poked out for a moment.

Vyyr said something to Kuu, who glanced back at him. Vyyr looked amused; and he starting to seem a little tipsy from two glasses of the stuff. Kuu took a breath at that, and downed the glass. There was another burst of coughing as Kuu made a few faces, shaking his head and chirping sharply a few times. Mij seemed to be having a great time. He was snickering over his own glass of moonshine. Though his wasn't the flavored stuff; he preferred it straight.

Vyyr was soon on his third glass. He was already feeling numb, and was soon laying before the fire, purring pleasantly. Leanna confirmed that he was ready when she ran her hand over the scar, and Vyyr barely even tensed from the pain.

"He's ready." She said. She brought out several supplies. Some clear liquid to clean the tools and avoid any sort of infection. Some bandages, as well as a soothing herbal poultice to soothe any pain after the fact.

Just to be SURE he was ready, Vyyr took one more glass, drinking it down. His head was starting to spin by now, and he just lay there calmly on the floor in front of the fire.

Evan took a deep breath. He was nervous about this. Very nervous. He was afraid of doing something wrong.

"Allright, Vyyr..." He said softly. "We're starting." Vyyr nodded slowly. Evan carefully took the sharp knife Leanna had brought, and carefully cut into the scar. Vyyr tensed a bit and let out a deep, staticy-sounding growl of pain. The sound was downright chilling and made even Mij almost drop his flask and stare. But Vyyr made no attempt to move away. It hurt, badly. But he knew they were helping him. He wanted to make it as easy on them as he could. The fang was easy to find. It was embedded just under the scar. Not too much unlike removing a large splinter. Evan took a breath, and took hold of the fang. His fingers slipped on the inky purpleblack blood a few times, before Leanna handed him a pair of metal tongs.

"Oh... right." he said, blushing a bit. He gripped the fang and tugged gently. The tugging made Vyyr let out another bone-chilling growl of pain; but again he remained still. One harder tug, and the fang was out. That made Vyyr twist a bit and let out a long, drawn out keening whine, but he relaxed as Leanna pushed the poultice into the wound. The stuff had strong pain-killing properties, as well as very useful for both getting rid of infection, and avoiding it happening in the first place. Leanna then bandaged the wound up. It was actually quite small; Evan had a feeling it would heal quickly.

Evan was relieved. It had been.. much easier then he had thought. Leanna took the fang and cleaned it off. It was smooth, and still sharp, even after so long being embedded in the Enderman's back. It was, though, stained permenantly purplish-black in places, from Vyyr's blood after being stuck in there for so long.

Vyyr was too unsteady to write, so he just carefully took the fang from Leanna and looked at it. He set it down; once he was back to his old self he would ask her to make it into a pendant for him. It was a memory. He wanted to keep it.

By then, Kuu was starting to get more then a little drunk. He wasn't able to walk straight, after only two glasses. Vyyr knew he wouldn't walk straight; the room was already spinning a bit. So he just stayed right where he was. He didn't feel like stumbling about and aggravating his wound.

Kuu stumbled a bit, his claws scratching the floor. He shook his head a few times, and looked around slowly. "Rrrrgh." He muttered. Then hiccuped sharply. Vyyr found himself laughing a bit as he watched. He noticed that the pain was pretty much gone. His back didn't hurt, other then a dull ache where Evan had cut to remove the fang.

Evan went over to the washbasin to clean the blood off his hands. He had a redstone-run water pump and a well house out back. It had taken some work to repair; but it supplied his house with running water. Running water was very, very nice to have. He got his hands cleaned, before sitting down to drink some of the moonshine himself.

Kuu was trying to walk and stumbling all over the place. He seemed confused, but not unhappy. He was actually feeling pretty good, other then being a bit dizzy and lightheaded. He felt warm all over. He was letting out a constant, pleased purr by now. It was a pretty amusing sight.

"You want some, too, Leanna?" Evan offered her some moonshine.

"Sure." She said with a smile. He poured her a glass and she sat down to have a drink as well.

Kuu tried to teleport, only to fall over after he came out of it. He seemed to be having a good time; but was making a terrible mess at the same time. He kept moving things around, staggering here and there, knocking things over, falling over himself, tripping over his own feet. Evan lost count of how many times Kuu stumbled and fell over. But he always got back up after he flopped to the floor.

Mij was still watching Kuu in amusement. Then Mij's snickering turned into outright hearty laughter.

"Well that there was somethin' I didn't think Ah'd ever see!" He said, pointing at Kuu. More specifically, pointing between his legs.

Leanna flushed, then giggled into her hand.

"Oh my..." She giggled. "I think he likes it a little TOO much!"

Evan turned beet red.

It seemed that Kuu was a bit of a frisky drunk, which showed clearly with his lack of clothing. "Oh dear gods..." Evan groaned. "Not again! I swear, I've had too many looks at that thing..."

"You'd better find 'im somethin' to hump, or he might start thinkin' 'bout you!" Mij laughed.

Evan was stunned into embarrassed silence for a moment. "I am not letting that... thing, anywhere NEAR me... much less my..."

Leanna and Mij both laughed heartily. Even Vyyr was laughing where he was laying before the fire.

"Who says he might go after a man?" Leanna giggled. "He'll probably go after me; I'm the woman, after all!"

The very thought of THAT had Evan flushing so red he thought his face would catch on fire. Only he was imagining himself with her; not Kuu. He cleared his throat quickly. "I think he might be a little... much... for you..." Evan said once he found his voice again.

Leanna, clearly joking, laughed and laughed.

Evan's eyes widened a bit as Kuu wandered over and flopped on the couch next to Evan, cuddling up happily. He purred on and on, even pushing himself between Evan's back and the back of the couch. Determined to get as close and cuddly as he could. Evan shifted and grunted a bit.

"Kuuuu..." He moaned in embarassment. "Oh god I feel your..." He couldn't even finish as he placed his red, red face in his hands. He wanted to get up and move, but he realized he was quite well held in place by strong Ender arms. Kuu had no intention of letting his friend move away. He seemed completely unaware of his... condition. He was just being extra affectionate.

"Welp, its gettin' late." Mij said, standing and stretching. "Ah should probably git goin'."

"Do you know the way back?" Evan asked, trying to ignore his overly affectionate and cuddly friend. "There is a path to the town; It's generally pretty safe. Monsters don't come around here much with Kuu around."

"Ah'll be fine." Mij said, before putting his flask in his pack and shouldering it. "Come agin, hear?" the man grinned. "I've always got 'shine ta sell."

"I will." Evan said. "You are right... Your moonshine is probably the best I have had."

"Why thank ya!" The wolfish man said. "Oh – and have fun with yer... frisky friend there!" He said with a wink, then closed the door and walked down the path, heading back towards his home. Outside, he thought he heard a long howl; before shuffling of not two legs, but four heading off down the path away from his house. Evan was silent for a moment, staring at the door, before his attention turned back to Leanna.

Evan blushed as Leanna giggled again. Kuu's purrs, though, quieted after a few moments. Then he realized Kuu had passed out. He tried to move again, but even passed out Kuu had a pretty firm grip.

"... I'm going to be here for a while..." Evan said, leaning his head back against his friend's chest with a sigh. One long, lanky black leg was flopped over his lap, the other behind him; and both long, skinny, but shockingly strong arms were wrapped tightly around him. Kuu's head was splayed back over the back of the couch, his mouth open and teeth showing as he slept like a stone.

Vyyr finally got up, standing unsteadily. He swayed on his feet, clearly very drunk. He stumbled to the right, then the left. He steadied himself, shook his head, then swayed and stumbled his way back to Kuu's room, where he flopped down on the bed to sleep the alcohol off.

Evan and Leanna talked for a bit, before both grew tired. Evan yawned, and shifted again, finding that Kuu still had him held in place.

"I think I'll be here, for the night." Evan said. "I can't move and I doubt Kuu will wake up any time soon. You can use my bed for the night."

Leanna nodded "Thanks." She said. She smiled a bit. "Should I bring you a pillow, or a blanket, or something?"

"I'll be fine." Evan said. He shifted enough to get more comfortable, before yawning. Once Leanna went to bed, he closed his eyes, and went to sleep. Probably the most interesting way he had ever slept; held tightly in the arms of an Enderman.


	9. Something in the Wind

[Author's Note: SO sorry this took so long to get out! Got really busy, and had lost inspiration for the story for a bit, but I think I am back in the flow of things again! I have told myself I WILL finish this story no matter what! As I promised, more action is up and coming! Hope to make updates faster from now on! Also, I have a possible sequal planned, for those of you who like Vyyr! I want to detail his backstory a bit... I've put a lot into him, and kinda really like him now. xD  
ANYWAY! ENJOY!}

As Evan had guessed, Kuu didn't budge all night. The Enderman slept like a stone. Evan, though, still managed to get some sleep. Kuu was actually quite warm and didn't move much in his sleep. And, Evan was thankful, he didn't snore either. He breathed quietly and softly. It was an odd position to sleep in, but he managed to get comfortable enough using Kuu's chest as a pillow. He was just glad he didn't have to use the bathroom during the night.

Morning came in the form of bright sunlight streaming in through the window, making him shift and open his eyes. Kuu still had a firm hold on him, sleeping away. Evan shifted a bit, trying to push his arm. The movement started to wake the Enderman, who shifted. His hold loosened a bit. Evan renewed his efforts, and was finally rewarded as both arms moved from being wrapped around him.

Kuu let out a plaintive whine as his eyes opened then immediately shut again. His hands pressed against his temples as he whined again.

"Oh my..." Evan heard Leanna's voice. She was sitting on a chair with a book, already awake. "I think the poor dear's hung over."

"He did get pretty drunk last night." Evan said. He heard a groan from Kuu's room, then was startled by Vyyr suddenly streaking past him as fast as he could go then teleporting as he got to the door. Wondering what got Vyyr in such a hurry, Evan opened the door to ask if he was alright, only to see the older Enderman hunched over by a tree throwing up. Nothing much came up since he didn't eat, but all the same Evan was relieved he'd gone outside.

"You've been through this before, haven't you?" Evan asked Vyyr. He glanced back at Evan, and nodded a bit. He stood where he was for a few moments, before confirming that he was done. He straightened up, then shook his head before walking slowly back inside. He stooped to get through the door instead of teleporting like Kuu always did.

By that time, Kuu was looking pretty sick as well. Vyyr walked over and tugged at him, trying to get him to get up. Kuu protested, curling up and hiding his face in the couch. He even let out a quiet little growl. Vyyr muttered something in his strange, staticy chirrs and sighed before taking hold of Kuu's feet and tugging. But he stopped. Kuu was holding onto the couch, and his claws would have destroyed Evan's furniture. He was sure Evan would not have liked that. He tried to push Kuu off the couch, with no success. The whine, then growl, only grew a bit louder. Kuu felt terrible with his pounding head and upset stomach, and was quite pleased to lay right where he was. Giving up, Vyyr let out a sigh and started searching around for something.

Evan had a pretty good idea of what he was looking for. He could guess why Vyyr was trying to get Kuu to go outside. He went into his supply closet and got a wooden bucket out.

"This what you were looking for?" He asked Vyyr, who nodded and took it. He got back to Kuu, it seemed, just in time. Vyyr tapped Kuu's shoulder, then pushed the bucket into his hands, chirring and cooing all the while. Obviously telling Kuu something. Kuu looked confused, before he let out another whine. This one was almost a groan. Vyyr pushed the bucket in the way just in time, as Kuu threw up. He had eaten quite a few sweets the night before while he was drunk. He had a lot more in his stomach then Vyyr had. Evan was grateful that the mess was contained.

"Thank you." He said to Vyyr, who just nodded. Kuu seemed to feel better afterwards. He shook his head and made a face, his long, glowing tongue poking out between his teeth for a moment. One just had to say that sweets and treats tasted a hell of a lot better going IN. He stood up and wandered off to his room. Most likely to get out of the light and wait for the misery to end. Vyyr took the bucket outside, then came back in to sit on the couch, leaning his head back with a long sigh.

Leanna had quietly watched the whole thing. As bad as she felt for finding the whole thing funny, she couldn't help but snicker into the back of her hand. Kuu was such a stubborn one when he wanted to be. Especially when hung over.

"How is your back?" Evan asked Vyyr after a moment. Vyyr moved his hand from over his eyes to look at him, them smiled softly. He didn't feel like writing, so he just nodded to indicate that he felt a lot better. The pain was gone; the heavy sleep through the night had finished the healing process. His regenerative ability had taken over and the small wound was healed completely already.

"So the pain is gone?" Evan asked, looking hopeful. Vyyr nodded. Come to think of it, hangover aside, he felt better then he had in a very long time. He hadn't realized how used to the constant pain he was until he was able to move without even the slightest twinge.

He looked around, before Leanna brought him the dragon's fang. "Were you looking for this?" She asked him.

He nodded and took it gently. His claws lightly brushed against Leanna's skin, but they did not cut her. He looked at it, then at the two Ender Pearls he had on his silver chain.

"You want to keep it, don't you?" Leanna asked. "I can make it into a pendant for you."

Vyyr nodded; he'd wanted to ask that exact thing last night. It was a memory; and he didn't want to lose it. And having it as a pendant would add to the many memories he wore.

Kuu slept off and on most of the day. Most likely sleeping off the alcohol he had drank the night before. Vyyr wasn't much different. He mostly stayed on the couch, either sleeping, or laying quietly other then the occasional chirp or chirr. By the end of the day, both Endermen seemed to be feeling a lot better. Kuu emerged from his bedroom with the familiar sound of a teleport, before he looked to Evan with a sharp-toothed smile. He teleported again, going outside. He liked being outside, especially at dusk. He'd taken to enjoying the sunset each night.

As Kuu was out doing whatever it was he did when he was outside, Vyyr shifted and lifted his head.

"Feeling better, too?" Evan asked Vyyr, who nodded. He seemed a bit distracted, though. He approached the door, before he crouched down and pushed it open, stepping outside.

"What is it?" Evan asked. Vyyr wasn't sure quite how to explain what he sensed, so he went back to get his pad of paper.

'Smell another Ender.' He wrote carefully.

Evan looked at him, a bit concerned. "We were attacked by a female Ender a while back... Kuu got hurt pretty badly. I wonder if it was the same one."

'Could be. Should I find him, bring him back?' Vyyr wrote.

"Probably for the best." Evan said.

Feeling much better, Kuu was happy to be outside in the fading sunlight. The pounding headache he'd experienced had faded away completely, and his stomach didn't feel strange anymore. The night before had been fun, but the aftermath... he wasn't sure he wanted to partake of that strange, burning liquid that was not water again. But at least those effects had worn off, and he hadn't missed the sunset.

He loved the sunlight. He looked up at the sky, bathed in brilliant colors, when a breeze carried a scent to him. One he recognized. It set his mind to unease. He narrowed his eyes a bit as he looked around. Feeling drawn to the scent, he carefully followed it. Maybe if he stayed out of sight, he could see if his suspicions held true without being discovered.

The female was not too far off. She was moving slowly through the woods, her head low. Her eyes scanned the area all around her with each step, and she took in deep breaths through her nose. She lingered where Kuu had been most often, crouching down and running her claws through the leaf litter.

Kuu felt both hot and cold at the same time; He knew her. He knew the scars on her hand; the familiar long, wispy hair flowing down her back.

A part of him wanted to call out to her, instinctively – but the more rational part of him snapped his jaws shut and refused to let a sound slip through. But she sensed him. Baring her teeth, she turned around. Their eyes met for a moment, making Kuu freeze up. His posture clearly defensive, he let out a wavering, staticy growl.

He cringed as her hand moved, but instead of an attack, something hit his head, and landed in the leaf-litter at his feet. She bared her teeth in a cruel smile, followed by an unsettling laugh. Then... she was gone.

He bent down and picked it up. What he saw made ice shoot up and down his spine. Thoroughly uneasy and confused, he teleported home quickly with the object in hand.

~~~~~

Vyyr was just about to go look for him when Kuu appeared back inside. He looked nervous, and unsure, holding something in his hand. He held it tightly. He was not hurt, but Evan knew him well enough to know his look of fear even if he tried to hide it. While his face was neutral, he could see it in his eyes and posture.

Kuu was chirping and cooing urgently, before holding the item out and dropping it on the floor at Evan's feet. Evan bent down to pick it up. It appeared to be a smooth piece of metal attached to a string, about the size of the palm of his hand. A pendant. But that was not the strange thing about it. It looked like something had been etched into it by claw. A symbol in the shape of a dragon.

He could make out the shape of the wings to either side. The claws and the scales, and the tail coiled beneath it, head turned to the side and mouth wide open. Even flames had been etched into the metal. Every last scale was carved in detail. Clearly, whoever had done it had made it had put a lot of time into it.

Hearing a sudden, deep growl from Vyyr, Evan jumped and stared at him. He was staring at the metal pendant with narrowed eyes and bared fangs. That look on his face made Evan feel cold all over. He knew Vyyr meant no harm towards him, but such a reaction told him that the pendant meant nothing good.

"What is it?" Evan asked. He lifted it up, turning it over in his hands. The dragon had been etched into both sides, and both sides with the same painstaking detail. He had to admire the craftsmanship of whoever had made it. He was guessing it was made by an Enderman; he couldn't think of anything else that could etch something into solid metal with just their claws.

There was clear conversing going between the two Endermen, which left Evan feeling a bit lost and confused. Vyyr seemed almost demanding in his tone; like he was trying to get some sort of information out of Kuu; who seemed unsure, or unwilling to give it. He seemed uneasy and nervous judging by his tone and posture.

"What are you two saying?" Evan finally asked.

Vyyr paused, then started to write. 'Sigil of Dragon.' He wrote. Judging by the slight growl that uttered from between his fangs, Evan had a feeling it was probably the dragon he had seen in the vision he had shared with Kuu.

"Where did he find it?" Evan frowned.

'He does not want to say.' Vyyr wrote, glancing towards Kuu, who lowered his head a bit nervously. 'The scent on it is female.' He looked like he didn't even want to touch that token; he stared at it almost hatefully as if he knew something Evan did not. 'Same scent from before.'

"Why are you looking at it like that?" Evan finally asked.

There was more chirring and chirping between Kuu and Vyyr, followed by Vyyr shifting uncomfortably and Kuu looking more afraid.

'This is put on one sacrificed to dragon.' Vyyr wrote, staring at the token darkly. 'He did not just find it. It had to be given to him.'

Evan frowned. "Did the one who gave it to him have a bite scar on her hand?" he asked, almost urgently. His eyes widened a bit as Vyyr nodded.

'She threw it at him.' He wrote. 'Then disappeared.'

"Kuu is in danger." Evan said. "The one with the scar on her hand is one from that memory he shared with me. I don't know who she is to him, but she is up to no good. The scar on her hand is because he bit her when he was a child when she tried to feed him to that dragon. From the visions, it seems like she has blamed him for the dragon's anger since. She must still be hunting him."

'And now she has found him.' Vyyr wrote. His eyes narrowed. 'I will stay. For a time. Kuu'ruhrr young; I help keep him safe. She not only one.'

"What do you mean she's not the only one!?" Evan asked. This was bad.. very bad. "There are MORE?"

'I have smelled... more Ender, close to here.' He wrote, after a moment. 'Even before I meet you. I fear they hunt young Kuu.'

Evan had to sit, letting out a breath. Not good. Not good, at all. Kuu was in even more danger then he realized.


	10. Preparation

[Author's Note: Well I took so dang long to get the other chapter out, here is another! I do hope you enjoy this one, and I quite enjoyed writing it! ]

Evan started to prepare himself quickly. He went to the town blacksmith, got his armor fixed, oiled, and re-inforced. He got a better sword then he had, and a shield. He knew metal would do very little against an Enderman's claws, but it would maybe give him a few moments if he was attacked. He tried to get Kuu to wear armor, but the young Enderman refused. It sounded entirely too uncomfortable. Vyyr, too, seemed uninterested in armor.

Vyyr, though, did make himself quite useful. Without the dragon's fang embedded in his back, he was able to move much faster without that familiar painful stiffness. Vyyr decided that he would start training Kuu. Kuu would have to learn to defend himself; he would have to learn to fight if attacked. And who better to learn from then one who was as old and experienced as Vyyr was?

Granted, Vyyr was quite out of practice. He hadn't had to fight much in the time he'd been in the Overworld. He'd killed a large Dire Bear; a beast twice as large as a grizzly and far more vicious. He'd gotten hurt in the process, but he'd healed just fine. He'd fought off packs of hungry Dire Wolves, as well; each dire wolf the size of a regular black bear. So he still had some experience.

'No, Kuu – like this.' He said. 'Your footing is all off. If you are attacked, you are left open, and could go off balance. Once you go down, it is hard to get back up. And remember, conserve your energy.'

Kuu let out a little huff of annoyance. He changed his stance, waiting for Vyyr's charge. The older Enderman rushed him, and Kuu lifted up his hands to block, only to get knocked over with ease. Vyyr was strong, and powerful. Taller then Kuu, older, and stronger by far. Kuu was actually a bit small for his species. Still taller then a human by far, but he stood a full head shorter then any other Enderman. And sometimes it got discouraging. Vyyr could take him down without a thought.

'Dodge, boy!' Vyyr said. 'I am bigger, and I am stronger! But you can use my momentum against me. Use your smaller size to your advantage. If you aren't as strong as your enemy, then you can use your size, and smarts against them!'

'You've got more experience then me!' Kuu complained.

'Yes... and? Those you are defending against do as well.' Vyyr said.

'…. good point...' Kuu sighed.

'Again.' Vyyr stepped back and charged.

Kuu yelped in surprise, but managed to jump out of the way – only to get knocked down from the back. He hit the ground with a sharp huff, before sitting up and brushing himself off with an annoyed stare at his old trainer. He let out a frustrated growl.

'Keep on your toes, Kuu'Ruhrr!' Vyyr said, simply. 'Be alert, listen, feel, smell... use your senses! Don't think that they will give up after dodging them once! They will keep attacking, and instead of using their weight to knock you down, they will be using their claws to kill or disable you. They seem to want you alive. So we have that going for you at least.'

'Why do you say that?' Kuu asked.

'That damn token means they want to feed you to that damned dragon!' Vyyr growled harshly. The sound made Evan shiver, who was watching the whole thing. He'd learned to recognize the Ender word for Dragon, a harash, growl-like sound followed by a couple quick chirps. He knew Vyyr meant no harm, but the sparring was still a bit nerve-wracking to watch, even if neither of them hurt eachother.

'And again!' Vyyr said. He charged at Kuu, who moved quickly out of the way. He moved again, dodging another attack, and at the third leapt up and came down, knocking Vyyr to the ground. He hit the ground with a thud and a grunt. Kuu looked concerned for a moment, but Vyyr sat up and shook himself, before he looked to Kuu with a smile. 'Very good, you learn quickly.' He said. He stood. 'Now. See if you can knock me down again. Remember, think fast. The same strategy won't work each time. Your opponent will be thinking as quickly as you do.'

Vyyr backed up, and charged. Kuu dodged. He teleported up into a tree, which actually surprised Vyyr a bit. Kuu leapt out of it, using the height to his advantage. Vyyr quickly moved out of the way, then flipped around and charged again. He met Kuu with a leap halfway down, but instead of Kuu knocking him down, he sent the younger Ender flying before he went into a teleport and landed lightly a few feet away. Kuu hit the ground with a grunt, before he propped himself up. He panted a few times, before shaking his head and staring at Vyyr, only to see the older Enderman was coming at him again. He yelped, before he rolled out of the way. He realized Vyyr was not taking it easy on him. He jumped to his feet, then tried to run to give himself some time to gather his wits, but Vyyr was there in front of him moments later. Kuu skittered and lost his balance, and was knocked down once again. He was just about to complain, only to see Vyyr was charging again. He jumped to his feet, looking around quickly. He dodged to the side, and ran around a tree. But Vyyr was smart enough to dodge around it as well. Kuu couldn't seem to shake him.

'Prepare yourself!' Vyyr said, and this time came at him with claws up. Kuu let out a surprised yelp, hands rushing to block the sharp claws of his opponant. There was a clatter of claws to claws, followed by a hiss of pain from Kuu. He'd blocked one, but Vyyr had been fast, and found an opening. The small scratches healed within minutes, but still hurt.

'Vyyr!' Kuu complained. 'Come on, that's not fair!'

'And you think that the ones hunting you will stop for a moment?' He asked. 'They will be looking to actually hurt you.'

'But you could take it easy on me... I'm just learning!' Kuu complained.

'Yes, you are just learning. And I am taking it easy on you.' Vyyr said. 'But I want you to be prepared, and I don't know how much time we have, until they actually find your home. And you will have to defend your home. Not just yourself, but your human friend as well. Do you want to see Evan get killed?'

Kuu looked quite horrified at the thought. He shook his head. 'No! I don't want to lose him!' He said.

'I've lost those who are close to me.' Vyyr said. He touched the Ender Pearls around his neck. 'And when you lose somebody you care about, the pain does not go away. Especially when you could have prevented it yourself. Granted... I was not there at the time it happened. I protected her once, from the Dragon. But when she and our daughter came across frightened humans, I lost them. I know he is not your... mate, so to speak...'

Kuu shook his head at that. 'He's male.' He said. 'And not even Ender!'

'That is besides the point.' Vyyr interrupted before Kuu could say anymore. 'The point is, you care about Evan, right?'

Kuu nodded. 'I do.' He said, quietly. His tone was soft.

'You don't want him to get killed, by those hunting you, right? Whether it is your fault or not... you WILL blame yourself. I've been through it myself. Even if you know you didn't do it, a part of you will always wonder why you didn't do more. Why you didn't fight to protect him as much as you feel you should have.' Vyyr continued.

Kuu nodded again, his expression sobering a bit.

'I am giving you the training you need, to protect yourself, and your friend.' Vyyr said, looking over at Evan. He'd been quiet during the training session. A part of him wished that Vyyr would train him as well. 'I know I am training you hard, and I know that, right now, it seems impossible to beat me. But whether you win, or lose, you are still learning something. If you make a mistake with me, that gives you something to look for when in a real fight for your life. I have already noticed that you rarely make the same mistake twice. You are learning from every success... and failure, in this session. You are smart, fast, and agile. Maybe not as big and strong as I am... but your enemy may underestimate you. That gives you an advantage, if you can take it. I am training you hard, because I care and I don't want to see you die.'

Kuu nodded again, then smiled. 'Allright. Let's... try again.' He said. He positioned himself.

'That's more like it.'

The next sparring session lasted quite a while. Kuu was panting hard by the end of it, and tired. He'd lost, but he'd given Vyyr a hard time. Vyyr looked quite proud.

'You are doing very well!' He told Kuu. 'You can take a break now. I want to teach Evan how to fight my kind.' He said.

'You won't hurt him, will you?' Kuu looked concerned. 'He does not heal fast like our kind do.'

'Of course not. If I use my claws, I will use the back of them. It'll give him a bit of a shock, but it won't hurt him.' Vyyr said.

He walked over to Evan. He picked up his pad of paper and pen, before writing carefully. 'I want to train you as well.' He wrote. 'I've been working with Kuu'ruhrr, but I want you to defend self, too.'

Evan, nervous, nodded. He stood. "I can't understand you, like he does..." he said. "But I watched you with him."

'Did you learn anything?' He wrote.

"I did. I'm nervous..." Evan said, rubbing the back of his head. "But.. well, if we do have more then one Enderman hunting Kuu, I have to learn to fight your kind."

'Good.' Vyyr wrote. 'Let us begin. And don't hold back. I can handle a few good hits.'

He lead Evan away a bit. He did wish he could understand him; other then basic words. That would make training him a bit harder. But Vyyr was determined. He started off slow. Charging at Evan, and teleporting off to the side, or behind him. Evan was using a wooden sword, something that he could use without hurting Vyyr if he managed to make a hit. At first, Evan hit the ground at every charge from Vyyr. Vyyr was fast, and Evan was at a terrible disadvantage. He kept getting smacked on his side, or other vulnerable spots, with the back of the older Enderman's sharp claws. But as Vyyr had promised Kuu, not one scratch was left. Vyyr had explained before hand that he would fight like many of his kind fought. Charge, slash, teleport. Charge, slash teleport.

Evan quickly learned that the sound of the teleport, and the growling, would tell him exactly where his opponent was. So he soon managed to dodge, and smack Vyyr before he teleported again. Vyyr was impressed. With a real sword, he could have actually done some real damage. He even managed to leave a bruise! While the bruise healed in minutes, Vyyr was still quite impressed that evan had done any damage at all, with a simple wooden sword. The human was stronger then he looked.

Vyyr trained Kuu and Evan throughout the day, until both Human and young Enderman were exhausted. Even Vyyr looked tired, since he hadn't taken a break that day.

'You have a lot of strength in your arms.' Vyyr wrote as they paused for the day. 'Use that.'

"What about blocking your claws? Your claws can cut through my sword with ease." He said. "I've seen it happen. The first time I faced one of your kind... My sword was cut to pieces."

Vyyr had to think for a moment. 'Only block if you have to.' He wrote. 'Try to duck, or dodge.'

"But your kind are a lot faster then mine are." Evan frowned.

Vyyr had a thought. 'I know a magic worker.' He wrote.

"A... Magic Worker?" Evan asked.

'Yes.' Vyyr said, since he knew Evan knew what that word was.

'She call herself Moonshimmer. She is not human. She smell of fox. I will take you to her. She enchant your armor, your sword, to be like my claws.' Vyyr wrote.

"She can do that?" Evan asked, surprised.

Vyyr nodded. 'I have not seen her in long time, but I will take you.'

Evan nodded. "Good idea." He said.

'Kuu, come with us.' Vyyr said, turning to Kuu. 'We can not risk leaving you alone here.'

Kuu nodded as he walked over. Vyyr nodded once, before he put a hand on Evan and Kuu's shoulders. He leapt into a teleport.

They came out in front of a strange cottage. It was small, and decorated with elegant sculptures of white foxes. Most of them had more then one tail. There was a beautiful flower garden, with cherry trees in full bloom. Even if it wasn't the right time of year for cherry trees to bloom. Vyyr was about to rap at the door with the back of his claws when it opened.

The woman who opened it was pale as a winter rose, with long white hair hanging down to her shapely butt. Her eyes were pale voilet, with black eyeliner bringing out the slanted shape of her beautiful eyes. She moved with a strange grace; an almost feline fluidity to her every step. She wore a strange, silvery-colored kimono-like outfit, which flowed around her with each step. Her eyes went from Vyyr, to Kuu, to Evan, and one single white eyebrow raised slightly.

"What brings you here?" Moonshimmer asked. Her voice was smooth and beautiful, having a strange accent to it. Her slanted eyes meeting Evan's damn near took his breath away. He shook himself a bit. Her beauty was strange, and un-natural. Most definitely not human.

"I wanted an.. ah... enchantment... done." Evan said, stammering as he tried to get hold of his voice.

"What sort of enchantment?" The woman asked, motioning for the three of them to come inside. Vyyr and Kuu ducked to get inside, and sat down. The inside of the place had a pleasant floral smell to it.

"I... wanted to see if you could enchant my sword and armor to have the qualities of his claws." He said, motioning towards Vyyr, who nodded to confirm it. "There are... other Endermen, trying to hunt my friend Kuu, here." He motioned towards Kuu. Kuu was not paying attention. He was looking at the beautiful porcelain statuettes of multi-tailed foxes the woman had decorating her home. "And I want to be able to defend him, and myself."

"Noble cause." The woman said smoothly. "It will take some time. Give me your weapons and armor."

Evan nodded, then took off his armor and handed it over. She started to prepare a brew, her eyes practically glowing as she chanted softly and added herbs, and other various regents. Her voice was haunting.

Once it was all prepared, she looked back. "Vyyr." She said, smoothly. "I have something for you." She turned her gaze towards Kuu. "And... perhaps, for your friend as well." She motioned towards Kuu.

Vyyr lifted his head to look at her curiously.

She came over, with a simple pendant. It was silver, with a delicate swirling pattern on the border with a shining moontone gem in the center. She approached Vyyr, pressing up close to him as she clasped it around his neck. Evan saw Vyyr shiver noticeably, and let out a soft purr at her closeness. He couldn't help it. She was beautiful, and smelled nice. The silk of her clothing and the warmth of her body felt nice. Vyyr had to push his minds to other things. /Have restraint!/ He was thinking to himself, and trying with all he was to ignore the strange, beautiful woman's closeness and invigorating scent and the effect it was clearly having on him. He let out a breath when she finally pulled away.

She stepped back, before bringing another one to Kuu. Kuu shifted a bit, not reacting quite as Vyyr had. He gave her a strange look... since she didn't need to press her entire body against his to place the pendant around his neck; but she did it anyway with a coy smirk. She took a step back once the pendant was in place, her gaze holding a spark of mischief.

"Can you understand me now?" She asked, running her delicate hand through her silky white hair.

Kuu blinked and stared. 'I do understand you, but... how?' He asked.

Then it was Evan's turn to stare. He understood every word Kuu had said, as if he was speaking common!

"I can understand him! But... how!?" Evan asked. Kuu turned and stared at Evan.

'And... I can...' He had to sit down. He was both very happy and excited... but also surprised.

"A translater pendant." She said with a wave of her hand, as if it was nothing big. "You expressed interest in something of the sort, Vyyr."

Vyyr nodded . 'I did.' He said. 'But I was not sure if it was possible or not.'

"It is very possible. I found the spell in an ancient book I found in the town library, in the back, and enchanted the stone in that pendant. As long as it stays on you and in one piece, you can be understood by others, and others can understand you. If it breaks, come back. The spell is actually quite easy to perform." Her tone was sultry, and quite proud.

Vyyr nodded. 'Thank you.' He said, and he meant it from the bottom of his heart. Kuu was smiling as well. He could actually talk to... AND understand Evan! Completely! It was incredible! His eyes shone happily.

"I had that extra one made in case that one I gave you broke." Moonshimmer said, a teasing glint to her fox-like eyes.

'Gee, thanks for your faith in me.' Vyyr said in mock playful sarcasm. He smirked a bit, his sharp teeth showing. 'I'm not that clumsy.'

Moonshimmer laughed softly. "Well, at least it worked out. Now you, and..." She looked at Kuu questioningly.

'Kuu'Ruhrr.' Vyyr said. 'But he generally just goes by Kuu.'

"Kuu, then, have one." She finished. "And judging by the look on your human friend's face... He looks quite surprised and happy."

'I am, too. Writing takes a long while; it will be nice to not have to write to communicate.' Vyyr said. 'And Kuu has always wanted to communicate with him. Learning eachother's language has been very hard. They have some basic understanding; but I think they were both getting impatient with their progress.'

From there, the brew took about an three hours to be completed. She took the armor and weapons and placed them in the brew, after having Vyyr dip his claws in it. He was, understandably, very nervous, but she assured him that she had added a spell to protect him from the liquid inside. She chanted on and on, her voice hauntingly beautiful. It was almost a song. For about 15 minutes, Vyyr stood with his claws dipped in the cauldron as the entire thing shimmered and glowed.

Then, there was a flash of light. The liquid all vanished, leaving his armor, now with a white-blue shimmer, in the bottom of the cauldron.

She drew it out, and Vyyr clacked his claws across it. Instead of scratching the armor, they slid off. He nodded in satisfaction.

'Perfect.' Vyyr said. 'Thank you.'

Evan brought out several gold pieces, as well as a couple diamonds that Kuu had found to pay her.

"Thank you." He said. "This makes me feel a lot safer."

Taking the payment, she nodded in thanks. "Come again." She crooned softly. "Any time."

After that, the three went back to Evan's home, for a very needed rest after a long day of hard training. Evan had a feeling he would be very, very sore the next morning after the exertion.


	11. Recruiting the Wolf

{Author's Note: Yup, here we have another chapter! I hope to keep updates frequent until the story is done with; I only have a few chapters left to write. I know, Vyyr is kinda stealing the spotlight in the past few chapters, but he's really helped move the story along. xD  
Enjoy! )

The next morning, Evan was very, very sore. Every bruise from his training hurt, but he still got out of bed. He knew another hard day of training was up ahead. Vyyr was determined to make sure they would survive. There was no telling how many Endermen were on the hunt for Kuu... but Vyyr had smelled at least six different ones recently, including the female Kuu had encountered.

The training was hard. Each day Vyyr sparred with them both until Evan was sweaty and needed to bathe and Kuu just flopped in bed to sleep. Their progress was good, though; Kuu learned more and more each day and Evan got faster and faster with his sword. With hardness, sharpness, and toughness of Vyyr's claws imparted into the armor, he could block attacks far more efficiently.

Vyyr, of course, had an idea of his own. He remembred the Moonshiner that had been over. The man made good Moonshine, yes... but there was something else that caught his interest. The smell of wolf that hung about the man. Everything he had touched or been near smelled of wolf. The scent still lingered, to one with a sensitive nose like Vyyr.

'The man who came over the night you removed the fang from my back... who is he?' Vyyr asked Evan.

"Leanna told me about him." Evan said. "He's a moonshiner, I think. Makes weapons on the side. At least I think he does. He had a lot in his workshop."

'He was accepting of Kuu and I, right?' Vyyr questioned.

"He seemed so. Intrigued by the both of you." Evan said.

'Do you think he might join our cause?' Vyyr asked.

"I... I don't know." Evan mused. "I know he said he had been having problems with an Enderman with a bite scar on her hand... We could have a common enemy. And with a common enemy he may be willing. But it's also a big risk... You've smelled six different Ender scents in these woods, right?"

Vyyr nodded.

"Are... you sure you are ok with training us to kill some of your own kind?" Evan finally asked. The question had been sitting in the back of his mind since the training had began. Vyyr was training Kuu, and himself, to fight against, and even kill, other Endermen.

'They gave up their pride as Endermen, when they became loyal to that damned dragon.' Vyyr said. He couldn't speak of the dragon without anger twisting his features and a growl lacing his voice. He clearly hated the beast, and all who followed it. 'They sacrifice their own to it, as you saw with young Kuu'Ruhrr there. It feeds on them, kills them, and sleeps on their Heartstones; and yet they worship it. It's disgusting that any of my kind would actually worship that monster, let alone feed an innocent child to it! It goes against our nature.'

Evan was quiet for a moment, surprised by the anger in his features and tone. He was glad Vyyr was on HIS side. Even if the anger was not aimed at him, it was still frightening to see. "I see." He said.

'Besides.' Vyyr said, standing. 'We're doing them a favor. At least they die with some honor, instead of offering themselves to that beast.' His claws ran along his scars. The dragon had taken so much from him, in his life. He'd lived a lifetime of pain thanks to the beast; He was not about to forgive it or those following it. 'I am going to go speak with this... Mij, you said he was called?'

"Yes." Evan nodded. "Just be careful... he gets defensive towards your kind."

'I think he'll recognize me.' Vyyr smirked lightly, eyes flicking towards Evan.

Evan nodded, before looking back at Kuu.

"What do you think of all this?" he asked him.

Kuu sighed. 'That one with the scar on her hand...' He said. 'She's... She's my mother.' He sounded, and looked troubled.

"Is that why you've been so quiet lately?" Evan asked him.

Kuu nodded. 'I know she... tried to kill me. Many times. Tried to feed me to the Dragon, and I barely escaped with my life. But isn't that enough? Why does she still hunt me?' He asked. 'What is the point? I got away, I'm not.. bothering her anymore. I'm here, the dragon probably forgot I even existed.'

"I don't know why mothers turn on their own." Evan said, thoughtfully. "But you have Vyyr, Leanna, and myself to stand beside you and fight. We'll protect you. We aren't your original family, but I like to think we're close enough to consider eachother brothers at least. You've been living here for almost a year now."

Kuu didn't quite seem to understand what he meant by a year, but he let it slide. It must have meant something to Evan at least; and he didn't want to interrupt to ask questions. 'I don't think I can do it.' Kuu said, at length.

"What do you mean?" Evan asked him.

'I don't think I can kill her.' Kuu said. He ran his claws over the stone they were sitting on, leaving scratches on the surface. He looked clearly troubled. 'I can't help but feel drawn to her, even after everything she did.'

"She's not going to be thinking the same thing." Evan said. "I know it sounds bad, but you can't hesitate. If you hesitate, it could cost you your life. She has no intention of sparing you. I don't know why, it saddens me to think that a mother would try to kill her own child, but... The fact remains that when it all comes down to it, it's your life or hers. And you might have to just to survive."

'I know, Vyyr told me that.' Kuu said. 'He says that trying to sacrifice me to the dragon is going against the very nature of an Enderman. They are supposed to protect their children, not try to kill them. Vyyr is very... different, then those I was around growing up. He says it's because they are loyal to the dragon and it's changed their way of life. It's turned them hard and cruel. I guess he'd know. He's been around since before the Dragon took over.'

Evan seemed surprised. "How do you know that?"

'I saw his memories, when he was showing me how to show you.' Kuu explained. 'And he has memories of the dragon coming in and taking over. He's old.'

"Explains part of why he hates the beast so much." Evan said. "Maybe you and I should spar a bit, until Vyyr gets back. He's going to see if Mij will join our fight."

'The man that smells like a wolf?' Kuu asked.

"The one you said smells of wolf, yes." Evan nodded. He and Kuu both stood and got into position. They sparred off and on until Vyyr returned.

Meanwhile, Vyyr had arrived at the Moonshiner's workshop. It had taken him some time to find, since he'd had to track him through scent. But once he had the trail he wasn't too hard to find. Especially since his worshop smelled of moonshine; a scent Vyyr couldn't forget.

He lifted a hand and rapped the back of his claws against the door, before pushing it in and stopping to get through. Mij's first reaction was to reach for his axe, before he recognized Vyyr. Mij was no different then the first time Vyyr had seen him. A hard-working man with holy clothes, wearing a wolf pelt, and smelling completely of wolf.

''Ey, it's that other Frienderman!" The wolfish man grinned. "How'd removin' that tooth from yer back go?"

'It went well.' Vyyr said.

"How in tha heck am I understandin' ya?" He asked incredulously. A smirk played across the older Enderman's features.

'This.' He tapped the moonstone pendant with a claw. 'Translation spell.'

"So ya come for more of that Moonshine? Drink it all already?" Mij teased.

'I wish it was something as trivial as getting your burning drink... but no. It's far more serious.' Vyyr's expression went from almost playful to serious.

Mij looked incredulous at that. "Important, hm?" He asked, rubbing his goatee.

'You know the Enderman Evan mentioned you had been having trouble with?' Vyyr asked.

"The one that has that scar on its hand?" The man questioned. "Like it got bit?"

'That is the one. She.. Yes, it is female... She is hunting Kuu. She has at least four others with her that I can smell. I have been working with Kuu and Evan... Training them.' He said. 'But another ally in this whole mess would be useful. I know you have had trouble with her yourself.'

"Especially after Kuu and Evan left." Mij said, darkly. "I only just finished repairin' things after she came tearin' through here as if lookin' for somethin'. She ran off before I could do anythin' 'bout her. Bitch. And she wasn't the only one. I had two others comin' 'round here. I injured one of them but they had little interest in me. Lost my best sword." he snorted.

'So we have a common enemy.' Vyyr said.

"So it appears." Mij said. He walked over to his armor closet, bringing out an old suit of armor. It was made of something called Brightsilver. Hard to get, but strong, light and tough. Vyyr could feel an old enchantment on the suit. "Might as well get this old thing cleaned up an' ready for use." Mij said, blowing dust off of the suit of armor and brushing it off with a cloth.

'I can take that to somebody who can put a new enchantment on there.' Vyyr said. 'Give it the toughness and hardness of my claws, and give your weapons the toughness, hardness, and sharpness as well.'

Mij thought for a moment. "Sure. Why not." He said. He brought out his sword, and his axe, and put them with the armor.

'Moonshimmer does not work for free, though.' He said. 'I will need to pay her. She's not overly fond of... wolves.'

Mij paused at that, with narrowed eyes. "How do you know?" He asked.

'Your scent.' Vyyr said, simply. 'You can't hide it. You have no human scent to you, and even now you look very... wolfish.'

Mij grunted. "Guess it's kinda hard to hide." He smirked a bit, showing off his sharp canines.

'And you can use that to your advantage.' Vyyr said. 'If you can enchant your claws and teeth in your wolf form.'

"And my regenerative powers." The wolfman added. "Here, thing this will be enough to pay this... Moonshimmer of yours?"

'It should be.' Vyyr said, taking the satchel. He could tell it had gold coins in it, plenty enough to pay for the enchantment. 'I will be back shortly.

Vyyr teleported to Moonshimmer's cottage. He knew where she lived. He was greeted and let inside, and she wasted no time preparing the spell.

"So, you found another ally?" She asked, smoothly.

'I did.' He said, handing over the satchel. She counted out the coins to pay for the enchantment before handing it back to Vyyr.

"Good." She said, with a smile. "And I am quite glad to have you back." Her tone turned to a purr. Her body shimmered as her form changed, to a beautiful anthro vixen, pure white with white hair and lavander eyes. Her ears were large and sharply pointed, held an alert position. Her face had fine vulpine features with a small, pointed nose and two black marks on either side of her muzzle. The ver tips of her ears were black and she had luxurious, silky fluff across her chest, almost like a mane. Her entire form was dainty and delicate, but one could not be fooled by such a delicate appearance. She was much stronger then she looked. She had not one but five tails, slender and long, swaying softly behind her. "And alone, at that..." Her voice was sultry and smooth. "We have to wait for the spell to finish brewing..." She circled him, delicate white paws making barely a sound on her lushly carpeted floor as her silky hand pads ran from shoulder to shoulder. Vyyr shivered pleasantly. "Might as well make use of that time for a bit of... enjoyment." Her kimono fell away, revealing her shapely furred form. Her chest was nicely sized. Not too big, but not small either, leading into a slender and delicate waist flowing out into shapely hips accentuated by those five silky tails. Her tails brushed across his face as the kitsune walked into her room with unnatural grace, a smirk playing across her delicate features. Judging by her scent, Vyyr could tell she was easily as excited as he was; which was proven quite clearly with how his body had reacted to her attentions.

Purring, Vyyr stood and followed her to her bedroom. The two had known eachother for some time now; While not mates by any means, they considered eachother as the occasional casual lover, or perhaps friends with benefits. Moonshimmer was very skilled in the art of pleasure, as was Vyyr. He'd been around for a very long time, after all. He was old, and experienced in more then just fighting.

Those three hours passed quickly, leaving Vyyr quite spent and tired, but also very, very satisfied. The spell was completed as it was the first time, by him placing his claws in the liquid, the sing-song chanting, and, finally, the flash of light.

He thanked her and said his goodbyes, before he teleported back to Mij with the now enchanted brightsteel armor, battle axe, and sword.

He placed them and the satchel down, only to see the wolfish man smirking at him.

"Looks like you did more n' get my armor enchanted." Mij teased.

Vyyr just smirked. 'You just wish you got some too.' He shot right back.

Mij paused at the comeback, and laughed heartily. "Good one." He said. "Does she really dislike wolves, or were you just trying to get some alone time with her?"

Vyyr shrugged. 'A bit of both.' He said. 'She does not like wolves, and it's been a while. Anyway, I have been training with Kuu, and Evan. I want to train with you as well. If you are joining this fight, I do not want to be responsible for your death. I want to make sure you know what you are getting into.'

"I like to think I'm a capable man." He said, but shrugged. "But why not? Let's do some trainin'."

Vyyr trained Mij as hard as he had trained Evan and Kuu. Mij did a lot of fighting already, unlike Evan, who was a woodsman. Evan fought when he had to, but otherwise he worked a lot or stayed at home. Mij, on the other hand, already had basic knowledge, and already had a good idea on how to fight Endermen.

He even knocked Vyyr down a few times, which impressed him and proved that Moonshimmer's enchantment worked. Vyyr was glad he'd gotten Mij to join them. He showed strength and skill; and he hadn't even taken his were form yet.

Four against six was better odds then three against six.


End file.
